New Toys

I had to post some pictures and be sure to mention that Andrew and Wesley have saved enough money and have purchased their newest toy: a PS2 gaming system. Both of the boys have been saving Christmas money, birthday money, and anything else they could scrap together. Gary found the PS2 on sale this week for $30.00 off the regular price, so they all took a trip to purchase this. It is the biggest item the boys have ever purchased, including a memory card, extra hand controller and seven games. Anyway, when a new toy is purchased, it seems like every other toy in the house is "boring." They have been very busy playing! Gary and I have let them have fun with it this first week, but I am sure we will be setting some time limits in the near future.
P.S. We did also get a new large screen TV---that was Gary's new toy :)

Free Day

When I awoke this morning and pondered the different events of my day, I was struck by the fact that tomorrow (Friday, February 29, 2008) was an extra day. (This probably was spurred by reading Aunt Juliet's blog.) Anyway, I was kind of motivated to think of this "extra day" as a "free day." Sometimes, when I am teaching, I start class by just babbling about something non-mathematical. Bad idea, today. I started talking about how "God has given us an extra day this year. I think we should have a free day!" Of course, to all of my students that just meant no class! Though I did consider the idea of canceling all my classes for Friday (now known as Free Day), I was unable to do so. I wanted to throw the idea out to you, though: What would it mean to you to have a free day? I think the general consensus at Ventura College was----no school, no work....or teacher brings the donuts :)

Would you let these flowers die?

Yesterday was Sunday, and I was unable to attend church due to the fact that I have been sick and in bed for three days. (That is a whole other story for another day.) After church, all three of the kids walked in, each holding one of these plants. At first I thought, "How nice to bring their sick mom a flower home." Then I heard the only thing I remember them saying, "We just have to watch them die." Now, that was a very odd statement. I got the whole story from Gary later, and the lesson was very sobering. Our pastor handed out these plants to everyone in the church and asked them to take them home and not water it and not give it any sunlight. Basically, just watch it die. He knew that this will bother many of the people. It only takes a little time to give it a little water, and that would help so much. How can I just slowly watch this pretty flower wither up and die? Pastor preached a message to go with the illustration, but the main point is this: how many of us do the same thing with people? We don't share the water of God's word. We don't tell them about the light of the world. We basically just let them wither and die to an eternity in hell. Pastor said, "If that plant really bothers you over the course of this next week, then may it motivate you to go share some good news with your neighbor or co-worker. Be more concerned over those souls than a small plant."
I did not get to church, but I did get the message----nice and clear!

Andrew's Birthday Party

Andrew and some of his friends enjoying cake and opening presents.


Of course, everyone's favorite thing to do is to play endless games!



The birthday boy!



After a morning of basketball games, we had a birthday party for Andrew's 7th birthday coming up on Monday. He invited several friends from school, and we all met at Chuck E. Cheeses. I like having parties there because it is nice to just let the kids play and not have to try and "control" everything. And I don't have to make the pizza :) Andrew was happy because he wanted Bionicles, and he did get three of them. Happy (early) birthday, Buddy!