We had a wonderful time on Saturday night. Jesse's cousins Johnny, Tina, Bonnie, Erik, and Julie all came over, along with Johnny & Tina's son, Tyler. Tyler and Mia spent the evening running around outside chasing the dog until it was too dark to see and they were as dirty as they could possibly be. Inside, the adults had brats, chips, dip, and lots of soda. The conversation never drags with this group. I was quickly accepted into this close group when I started dating Jesse almost nine years ago, and the night rarely ends without every laughing so hard we cry. I truly love spending time with them, because we can go from completely inane subjects to the hard, deep stuff like racism and abortion.

Today's pic is from a party at my aunt's house last night. My cousin, Paul, just got married and visited from Washington to show off his new bride. Mia decided to try out the hula hoops. It looks like she wasn't doing too badly!

Mia, Doogie, and I were waiting in the van while the oil was changed, and I was talking to Doogie when Mia said, "Mommy, could you please stop talking? I have a headache, no, make that a sweatache!" She has just coined a perfect word: that headache you get from the heat when you're all sweaty is officially a sweatache!

This has been an important public service announcement. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Labels: cute things kids say, sweatache

Molly has been grumbling all morning. Yesterday she spent the day with a friend and in return for a later curfew agreed to put all of the laundry away. But this morning, a family friend asked her to babysit for a few hours, plus she was invited to a sleepover tonight, plus to hang out with a few friends. The poor girl. She said, "I expected a quiet weekend where Molly could just hang out and rest, but no, I have to go to parties and a sleepover and babysit." And yes, she spoke of herself in the third person. Oh, the agony of being a popular teen!

Labels: Gary Chapman, Love as a Way of Life, teenage girls

I read this story about baby Emma Grace in the paper last weekend. It's one of the stories where you can quite literally see the hand of God at work. Sometimes I need to read stories like this because they help me keep my faith in the midst of trouble. I've been struggling with a lot of pain this week, and so I've been feeling down. I'm not finding solace in my Bible or in my devotional reading, but when I read something as wonderful as this, it restores my faith. I know that He is at work in the world, even when I don't see it in my own corner of the universe.

Molly is finally getting better today, thank the Lord! Her fever was over 103 on Sunday night, so first thing Monday morning I ran her to the doctor. Her UTI had traveled all the way up to her kidneys, and that's why she was so miserable. The doctor sent her home with antibiotics and a warning that if she wasn't better in 48 hours, she would have to be admitted to the hospital. Well, we're officially past 48 hours, and the fever is staying down, and she's acting more like her normal self. Yesterday she spent most of the day snuggled in bed next to me shivering and shaking with the fever and pain. But today she and Mia are fighting over their bedroom, so I can tell that the healing has begun. Doogie's especially thrilled; it means he won't have to do her chore of laundry any more!

I got the first flyer in the mail today advertising school supplies. It seems like school just got out, but summer is already half over. But Molly's yelling that I have to take her shopping; yeah, she's feeling better.

Labels: Gloucester pact, Rachel Brignoni, teenage pregnancy

Good Morning America is starting a new feature that offers people the opportunity to say thank you to someone who has touched their lives. Today's video was amazing. Click here and click on the Meet Your Savior video. As a mother of a five-year-old girl, I couldn't help but be moved to tears. It's a wonderful idea: encouraging gratitude and appreciation as well as acts of kindness.

Wiser Than Serpents by Susan May Warren: This book is part of the Mission Russia series and kicks off with FSB (the made over KGB) agent Yanna Andrevka going deep undercover (with no back up) to rescue her sister Elena who has been kidnapped in a white slavery operation. Yanna is quickly captured as well, as was her plan, but when she's meeting the head of the slavery ring, she also encounters her long time love David Curtiss who she hasn't heard from in months because HE was deep undercover. Although their agendas are different, they end up working together, sabotaging and rescuing each other from the Twin Serpents, a crime ring involved in arms, drugs, and prostitution. Warren has a terrific grasp of Russian culture, and I always enjoy reading her books. David and Yanna's relationship is unusual in that while they both deeply love each other, David is a Christian, and Yanna isn't, so he won't allow them to pursue their feelings until she comes to trust God. An intriguing plot twist that Warren works to maximum gratification. There is lots of suspense, and Yanna's ingenuity in her escapes are terrific. More frustrating is her regular insistence in running off alone and endangering not only herself but everyone else as well. It felt a little cliched at times to me, but Warren is using this book to help shine a light on white slavery in hopes that readers will become more aware of this issue and do something to help end it. And for that, I give the book 4 stars.

A note from Susan: Did you know that there are 27 million people around the globe held as slaves today – more thank 80% of them women and children, and up to 50% minors. In fact, there are MORE slaves today than were in the time of William Wilberforce. That leaves me horrified, and it was those stats that compelled me to write a story with a human trafficking plotline. 15% of all profits from this book go to International Justice Mission! And make sure you check out Susan's website; she's giving away a few signed sets of this series!

Labels: Good Morning America, IJM, Susan May Warren, Wiser Than Serpents