Happy Valentine's day

So....I'm gonna get MUSHY.

For Valentine's day I just want to give a shout out to my hubby.

Dell is the best man I could ever ask for. He was brave enough and strong enough to take on a widow and 3 kids with a lot of baggage and make a new family with 7 kids.

He is funny, and charming, and smart, and a hard worker, and a GREAT kisser. He always puts the needs of his family before himself, which sometimes irritates me because he deserves so much more.

He puts up with me, my dogs, my lack of desire for housework, and takes seriously his calling that his wife's social and educational needs are met. He tries so hard to balance church and family and work. He's the first one to shove everything aside and jump into the mud to pull someone else's wagon out.

Love you Dell, love being married to you, and love the life we've built. Looking forward to many more years with you!

Happy Martin Luther King Day - Now lay off my kid!

I don't want anyone to think I'm callous, or that I don't think that the Civil Rights movement wasn't a good thing. It was! It was important! There were many great men and women who worked hard and some even lost their lives like Dr. King. I value their sacrifices greatly.

That being said, will the schools please lay off my kids.

Oriahna came home with "white man guilt" on Friday. She's being quiet and serious and not herself. Something is obviously bothering her. Being the concerned parent I ask her what is wrong.

"Mom, I just feel bad because the way we treated the black people."

"Whoa, wait, they way who treated the black people?"

"We, white people."

No no no no no no...we are not going to even START this!

"Honey, do you treat black people mean?"

"No."

"Do your Dad and I treat black people mean?"

"No."

"Does Grandma and Grandpa treat black people mean?"

"No."

"Then why do you feel bad!"

"Because we were learning about it in school and my teacher said....." (Big heavy sigh by mom here)

My point here is, you don't need to make my 9 year old feel guilty because of the color of her skin for something that happened before I was even born. I'm her mother, if anyone is going to lay a guilt trip on her, its going to be me!

Dog Blog

My husband has a daily complaint. It's one I'm very good at ignoring by now, but everyday he complains about the dogs. Granted, he didn't WANT the dogs. He's made that very clear, and if you ask he'll make it very clear to you as well.

I love the stinky messy mutts.

We have two dogs right now. I want more, but we're waiting until we get moved to the Ranch. I'm not so cruel as to live in the city and get a big dog...(sigh, I miss big dogs)...so we have a small dog and a medium sized dog.

Charlie is the Chihuahua mix (Pure bred...what's that? This is America, we're all mutts here.) I read somewhere that the Chihuahua was the original hot water bottle, and I kind of have to agree. He's a nice soft water bottle that's always hot. He's not the best behaved dog, which is completely my fault, as I often find the garbage cans overturned, food missing from plates, and if you have a toddler with a piece of food you'll have to guard that child's meal from the Sneaky Chihuahua. I kind of liken him to Snoopy trying to steal Linus's blanket. That's exactly what Charlie does.

Shay is our Bagel - Beagle/Basset Hound mix. I love the sound of a hound. Charlie has that annoying little dog bark that makes you want to boot him like a football across the room. Shay, on the other hand, has that beautiful bay. The sound that rouses your blood, makes you want to grab your gun and say, "Come on Shay, let's go get those bunnies!" She's the most loving and patient dog as well. I can leave her with little kids and know that they will be perfectly safe. She tolerates everything, ears pulled, eyes poked, tail stepped on, mauling...just a good dog.

As for my hubby...I didn't hear him complain too much this weekend when he was sick and he had his portable fuzzy "hot water bottle" Charlie and his faithful Shay who snuggled him because he was sick and gets no sympathy from his wife and Shay would give him loves.