Box of Chocolates

"Wisdom, compassion and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men." "Faced with what is right, to leave undone shows the lack of courage." "Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire." Okay enough about what Confucius says. I like bible verses better..... Psalms 82:3 defended the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. I know some that read this might not believe in the bible or in Jesus. My point here is not to make you believe, but to do something worth while in this life. I choose this verse to help me highlight two non-profits. One is Bridge of Hope through Gospel for Asia, the other is Cure International. Both are Christian based organizations that not only help the physical needs of the children, but tell them of the love of Jesus. I linked both to the left under worthy of a look. I put the Confucius saying first because we all look to great philosophers and teach...

Tee Ball has provided many laughs along the way. Half the team will start Kindergarden in the fall and have never played ball before. You can only image the goofs and spoofs. It was just a couple months of games. Not too long, not too short and tons of fun. What tee ball has taught me... 1.) Stomach aches are instantly contagious and a few of the kids are in need of medical care because they get stomach aches every game. 2.) Everyone wants to be pitcher. 3.) The girls mostly get directions in parts and hardly ever complete the whole direction. For example, "pitcher when you get the ball, make the play at home." The pitcher will run to home plate without the ball. 4.) The kids love being called Hoover (as in a vacuum cleaner) when they catch the ball. 5.) Everyone wants to use the pink helmet or pink bat even if they are too big. Most frequently asked questions when I am dugout mom... 1.) "Can I go talk to my mom?" 2.) "When do I bat?" which is fol...

~Tee Ball is about to wrap up. Just long enough to start getting tired of going twice a week. Girls had tee ball pictures which set me back a few bucks. Can't wait to get them tonight! Working on a project for the coach as a thank you gift. Scrappy of course. ~Maddie is going to start swim team....maybe. Swimming around these parts is different than home. There are not public pools all over town that you pay a couple of bucks to swim. Pools around here are members only pools where you own a membership. Let me break it down they way I understand it. $300 membership, almost $400 in dues each year and you have to pay to be on swim team $45 for the month of June only AND you have to buy a $42 swim team suit and a $25 practice swim suit. Since we have a pool we don't need to be a member of one, I did find the USA swim team in town that is just about $50 a month and they swim all year. ~Nathan wants to do karate? Just add it to the ever growing things we are doing. ~Al...

I have always been passionate about non-profit organizations. I have dreams of starting my own but never know where the need is the most and have the defeatist attitude of there are so many organizations and foundations already out there. So, today I had an ahh ha moment. I will no longer sit back and admire these organizations and foundations, but make it my passion to get the word out. I takes a village and I am going to be active in this. My first foundation is listed to the right. Haley Vincent Foundation. I have a friend that is very involved with this foundation and they need your help. All donations are tax deductible ~ click on Be a Hero. No check is too small for the families that get help from this foundation. More to come on how you can help. Not all help needs to be in the form of money! Some just need you to get the word out that they need help.

For Mother's Day the kids got me a Hobby Lobby gift card (our local craft store) . I had already scoped out a scrap kit I was going to get, but was going to wait for the 40% coupon that comes out on Sunday. I already knew what I was going to buy with my Mother's Day gift card, Star Wars scrapbooking kit. Little did I know this was going to cause me grief. The gift that keeps on giving. To make a short story longer, I took Alexandra out yesterday to Hobby Lobby because the girl just needed a break from Nathan. Since I am a stay at home mom they are together a lot. He is a typical little brother and was just getting on her nerves. So off we we went for some retail therapy. Just the two of us. We took our time and just looked at everything. I am starting a things to do list for summer and one is origami. The paper is not cheap. Well it isn't expensive just more than I want to spend on paper you fold up. Well, I found it for almost 1/2 off in clearance. Which i...

I live on a golf course, the sixth hole to be specific. I don't say this to be hoity toity. Just stating a fact in order to tell my story. The golf course is a country club ~ members only (which I am not a member). I have to say that I see a lot of funny stuff just looking out my window or being in the backyard. So let me take this time to just list some of the things I have seen and my take on it all. Here is a picture for reference if needed. Dogwood to the left, 6th hole center and the water hazard. Yes, we have had balls in the pool. Kinda scary and I try not to worry about that. 1. A golf cart that looks like a Rolls Royce in fact does NOT make you a good golfer. This man golfs what seems to be every Thursday and he is well.... a shankapotomus. The only reason why I know him is because of his cart and the fact in is in my neighbors backyard a lot. Oh and he drives like a maniac in his silver Rolls. 2. If you are in my backyard or your ball is in my backyard you should ta...

Lots of questions going on upstairs. I have started four blogs this week not able to finish one. Everything in my life seems so random lately. Everything going on around me makes me ask more questions about this so called life. The kind of questions that are never answered. The one that is the hardest is the death of a neighbors mother. This family is so family oriented and it shows. My neighbors 90 year old mother lived with her for years. She home schools her teen boys and cared for her elderly mom. These things she has done for many years. Selfless woman. I can't even begin to tell you how I admire her. She has no idea how much I respect her and her choices. Although her choices are not the choices we have made for our family, I admire her for the choices she has made for her family. All that to say the lost she has had this week is devastating. To lose your mother even if she is 90 is hard. As an outsider looking in I think it is wonderful that her 90 year old mo...