Logan, the Sky Angel Cowboy!

This is one you can't miss. So sweet.
Merry Christmas. I love you all

the unsung heroes

Last night I was invited to a party with my friends & I had a great time, mostly socializing & catching up with people I hadn't see in a long time. I could go on & on blogging about how great the party was & I'm sure you'll read about it on other's bloggs.
But about all the other stuff that goes on before & after a special event like that which you rarely hear about, & the people that make it happen? Those are some of the folks I want to talk about here cause you really are the unsung heroes of the night. I may not have all of this in order & hopefully won't forget anyone (if I do please forgive me, I'm writing this after only having 2 hours of sleep last night) but I want you to know how much you are appreciated.
Chesco: Who invited us & was doing all he could to make sure we would come. I don't know how many times he skyped me throughout the day about details & what not to make sure we'd make it. And he was also a wonder host, taking time with the babies so that their moms could have some fun & keeping the garafon filled for us thirsty folks etc. Man going up & down those stairs is a deal in it self (I fell down them more than once)but with water bottles every so often... my hat's off to you.
Tammy & Angela : Who came up with the games & all that other party stuff. I admired their patience with us rolling our eyes & trying to bow out of doing something. Of course that's part of the fun in a game, acting like you don't want to do something when really you're dying to show off ha.
Steve & Chellie : OK they really were my heroes of the night or I should say morning. They not only filled up their van past capacity with us 5 extra people & if that weren't enough they also went out of their way to drive us home in the wee hours of the morning after the party. And when I say out of their way, our place is a half hour from their place in another town. I really don't know how to thank them enough.
To all my friends out there : It was great seeing you all & I love you tons

No shortage of power

I know this post should have been put up yesterday, but if you read on you'll find out why it wasn't. We had a power cut that knocked out our water pump in the process.
However there was no shortage of power yesterday afternoon, quite the opposite.
What started out as a normal rain shower turned into a major storm. You could see sheets of of water traveling across the yard & the wind was blowing at a high speed with lightning crashing very close by. Then came the hail, that was awesome. Our yard almost looked like a winter wonder land. Something you'll never see here in the tropics.
I love watching storms, I get the greatest thrill just standing there feeling the wind against my face, of course this time I reluctantly stayed on the porch to watch the down pour. However I did get hit by some hail when the wind changed & started blowing hail on to our covered porch. The best part was watching how thrilled the kids were watching the storm, from a safer distance than I of course. We had just had the Bible story about how God defeated an entire army by a hail storm, note the hail stones in the Bible story were bigger than what we saw but none the less it was thrilling for the kids to see what hail really was. It made their story come to life.
Now you can see why we had no electric power but nothing could have been better than witnessing that storm.

Champagne anyone?

The other night was just like any other night, put the kids to bed, work on my computer nothing new, or so I thought. Then my friend invited me to hang out with her & watch a movie. She'd had a particular, not so fantastic week to put it mildly so we just wanted to do something fun for a change.
We got out a bottle of what we thought was wine & figured why not? It was an odd looking bottle & there was a wire on the cork, which we thought was rather odd but this was from Japan after all. Good thing we didn't shake it cause it seemed to have a mind of it's own, we worked to get off the wire, & barely got the cork out, then whoosh. I mean big whoosh, you'd think that Moses had been there & struck it with his rod (referring to when Moses struck the rock & water came out), this was going everywhere. After coming to our senses we realized that this "special wine" wasn't wine at all, but it was Champagne, & not just any Champagne. The date on the cork read 1982.
When all was said & done & the bottle was empty, we celebrated our find with some friends, I walked back to my room & paused to look at the stars. I just marveled looking out at the vastness of it all & to think that the creator of the stars loves us so much that he created it all for us just to make us happy. But He doesn't stop there, He even does little personal things, like sending Champagne in time of need.

Prime The Pump

On Saturday the water pump went off, right when I was planning on having a shower.
Upon further investigation I realized that the water tank was empty. It filled up through the night but every time we would turn on the pump there would be no action. Well you can imagine what the house was like after half a day & a night without any running water, and being that it was the Easter week end, we'd have to wait till Monday have someone come and look at it. he situation seemed pretty bleak at this point.
Did I tell you I had the "wonderful" job of cleaning the "Throne room"? I was so (not) looking forward to doing that one with out running water but knowing that it had to be done,
I began hashing out my alternatives. Then the thought hit me, maybe I could try priming the pump, something my good friend, John Paone, had taught me once. So I got someone to show me where to pour the water in , but then there was the next problem. Right above the pipe hole where I had to pour in the water was a big wasp nest, with an army of angry looking soldiers waiting to attack anyone who dared venture near their territory. I can be rather squeamish around those little beasts, knowing from past experience that there is no negotiation between man & wasp. I asked a friend of mine if he had any ideas & it turned out he had a small gas burner with a hose. With that we burned out the wasp nest, then I primed the pump & whoosh we had running water again!
Thanks John, you never know how far teaching someone can go.

Ten of my favorite things

These are not in order of priority but are just a few of my favorite things. If you were ask me which was the top of these I don't think I could tell you but here they are:

Favorite Flowers: Gladiolas & Calla Lillis
Favorite Food: Anything spicy like Indian, & Thai food
Favorite Physical Activity: swimming
Favorite Clothes: Swim suit
Favorite Home Activity: Blogging
Favorite Music: Country, Latin & Regeton
Favorite Song(s): It changes from time to time but for now it's Haven's "I will go on" & James Taylor's "Up on the roof"
Favorite Place to be: out somewhere in nature, a far off beach or flower filled meadow.
Favorite Country: Thailand
Favorite Moment of the Day: Early morning when the sun is rising & the birds are making their first flights. Though I'm rarely up early enough to see it it's my most favorite of all

Danielle Peck - Isn't That Everything

Feeling like a "D" ?

Ever feel like a "D"? last night was my moment & I couldn't find enough "D" words to describe what I was feeling. But I did find my answer read on...
Is it worth it? was the big question that I was asking myself last night at the end of the day. I had so many questions & prayed for some of them to be answered quickly. I guess you could say that I was pretty down, discouraged, depressed & every other "D" word. I was pretty awesome at getting "D's" I high school. Except for Language arts (Taught by an awesome guy named Jonny, if you're out there you know who you are) & Literature (Taught by Tiago Drumond, no one can beat your awesomeness as a teacher, mentor, inspiration & just a great guy to be around) I wasn't that great of a student.
Any way I was just questioning whether or not my life has been worth it. I've been a teacher for many years & at times it can get tough. I wasn't sure what I was doing, or where I was going, till I came upon this blog. It's the blog of a great kid I used to teach back in the 90's, when I was just starting out as a teacher. She's 16 now & is doing so much with her life, she's a beautiful artist & photographer among other things.
Reading this made me see that what ever we do is indeed worth it & lives on in the lives of others. It's in a way a part of making them who they are today.
Pon, I hope you don't mind me advertising your blog but I want the world to know what a great person you are. http://ilovemusic-pon.blogspot.com/ People should see what a good photographer you are.
Now, even though tomorrow I'm going to wake up & do the same thing as always ( what tiggers to best) I have more inspiration for it & know that what I'm doing is worth it for all time & beyond. I really love my job & want to make the same impression on the kids I teach that my great teachers made on me.
Yes I still feel like a "D" Delighted, Dazzled & Determined, to continue making my part of the world a better place.

Harmonica + Beatbox: Final Cut

This is something way too cool not to share.

Yuck

Yesterday I was reading to Justin (3yrs.) from the Bible about how God created the world, & went on to an animated explanation about how God created Adam from the Dust of the ground etc. Then we got to the part where God created the woman, I explained that God created her from one of Adam's ribs. Here's how the conversation went.

Me: A rib is a group of bones you feel in your chest here.
Justin: It's bumpy
Me: Right, that's cause there's more than one of them, God took one of those & made a friend for Adam from it.
Justin: Yuck!
Me: Why yuck?
Justin: Bones are greasy & slimy, He couldn't have used that cause it would have slipped out of His hands.
Me: Well I guess God figured something out.
Justin: Did He wash hands when He was done?

Firebird ~ fantasia

This is one of my favorite clips from Fantasia

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