What a difference 6 weeks makes!

Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions - is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 1 Jn 2:15-17

This is the verse that we just learned...how convicting is this? Wow! How often am I led or even controlled by the desires of my flesh and eyes?! I don't want to love the world or the things of it but, my flesh is drawn to it. Oh, how I need Jesus every minute!

Just how smart are you ??

WORLD'S EASIEST QUIZ (Passing requires 4 correct answers)

1) How long did the Hundred Years War last?
2) Which country makes Panama hats?
3) From which animal do we get catgut?
4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
5) What is a camel's hair brush made of?
6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal?
7) What was King George VI's first name?
8) What color is a purple finch?
9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from?
10) What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane?

I'll post the answers later just in case you don't know them

Wow, the week has flown by. Tomorrow is Christopher's last indoor soccer game for the season, of which I am glad I don't really enjoy indoor soccer as much as outdoor, I think Christopher feels the same. He has been working with Daddy most days, some days working... some days swimming at the client's home. He has made money and is looking forward to buying "heelies" as soon as he gets paid!
Here is picture of one of the roses that Calixto gave to me. I meant to post a picture of them earlier. They are about gone now, but they were beautiful!

Catherine and I lounged around the kiddie pool for a while this afternoon until the thunder started, she had a lot of fun playing "Mer-aid" aka mermaid.

When you have labs (who love water) around this is bound to happen...the chocolate more than the others loves to get into the pool. They are able to get in and out of the pool on their own.

Catherine enjoyed having a playmate!

I've gotten 2 calls on the pups. One buyer is coming from Shreveport on Monday to pay for a yellow female and another couple are coming by on Tues. they are interested in the chocolate but they haven't made a firm decision to buy yet. Although I really want to sell all the puppies it is going to be sad to see them go.

Isn't this funny!! The puppies like lying in the hole Chessie dug by the back porch. I guess Chessie did a little more digging while the chocolate pup was in the hole...he was half buried and sound asleep when I saw him!!

Just so you don't think I only take photos of the puppies here are my precious children. I took these in the parking lot testing my new camera out.

Man...I need to make an orthodontist appointment for him...I'm procrastinating...I'm not ready for that stage! Or for the cost of the braces!

I'm getting a bit nervous...there are 5 other ads for Labs in the News-journal...oh please let our pups sell!!

Happy Anniversary (yesterday) to my Honey!!
Calixto surprised me for our 12th anniversary! He had made plans with 2 families to take care of our children over night on Sat. and he took me away to Dallas for the night. We stayed at the beautiful Hilton-Anatole and then had reservations for dinner at the Old Warsaw, a very fancy restaraunt. When we arrived at the hotel he had a dozen white roses waiting in the room! Dinner was wonderful...the ambiance beautiful and intimate, the food so incredibly delicious! Sunday morning we had a full breakfast in our room and then walked around the grounds/garden of the hotel and then spent some time in the pool. What a nice leisurely morning. Before leaving Dallas we stopped for lunch at a favorite seafood place that has the best mexican seafood soup...very spicy!
Calixto has always been very thougtful in regard to our anniversaries and my birthdays (ok, with the exception of my 1st birthday after we were married...but, hey I'm over that now ;). He is very much a romantic and I often take that for granted...thinking every man is like that...but that is not true of every man is it? I so appreciate the fact that he planned such a wonderful weekend for us even down to the childcare!
I am blessed to have such a wonderful husband, not just because he plans special weekends, but b/c of who he is! He is a godly man who pursues his relationship with Christ with a passion. He is a communicative, loving husband who is a strong leader. He has a strong work ethic and works hard for his family. He is a great father who loves his children deeply and is actively involved with them. The list could go on and on...I couldn't have asked for a better husband!! He is my beloved!

I am making flyers to put in vet's offices and thought these pictures were the best, showing the 3 variations that we have. We will ask $300 which includes removal of Dew-claws (don't know if that is the correct spelling?), de-worming and probably 1st round of shots. Of course we think the chocolate will sell first, he is so cute. I bought a yard fence for them today and they do not like it. They will fall asleep anywhere in the yard but, as soon as I put the fence around them they start whining and howling! Our back porch was really smelling awful in spite of cleaning it daily. Calixto was concerned that the smell may not ever come out of the concrete, so we decided to keep them outside all day and put them on the porch only at night. Of course overnight is when the porch gets the messiest. Our next step is to make the covered, outside area between our "servants quarters" and our workshop into a nice safe puppy palace. Calixto and his workers were finally able to take everything off of the back porch ...no more junk and boxes...I love it!! This will make it much easier to clean too! It allows a bit more light into the office area too, another plus!
If you would love to buy one of our pups, or know of someone in the market for a puppy let us know!!

Yay, I got a new camera!! Best Buy finally declared my old one a lemon and "junked it out", allowing me to trade to a new camera. I went ahead and stayed with the same brand and comparable model. I ended up paying $43 for a 2 year warranty and the difference in price between the two. It takes much better pictures...I am so excited! Last night I tried to take some really cute pix of the puppies but, they just would not be still!! But, here are a few that I was able to get. Notice the chocolate trying to eat from the top...how funny...dont' think he actually got anything though. They have grown so much in just 4 weeks!

Here is one of the brown nosed pups like Chessie (we have 5 of those)

And one of the black nosed pups (we have 4 of those)

They turned 4 weeks old yesterday and are now ready to eat puppy food...here they are munching down! Can you find the chocolate? He is on the Left of the picture, barely visible

Now that they are too big to stay in the kiddie pool, our back porch smells terrible! Every morning and sometimes in the evening too I have to wash down the porch with bleach. I need to get one of those yard fence things that you use for babies/toddlers to keep them contained in one place, that way they can do what they need to outside instead of on the concrete.

Hurray, it is sunny!!!!
What a beautiful sight the sun is. We only have a 10% chance of isolated thunderstorms! The rain is not gone for good though, there are still several days of rain ahead of us but, this respite today is wonderful!
Calixto's trucks are both stuck in mud in our back lots! Don't know when they will be freed. In the meantime since they can't leave we are getting our yard (which is in desperate need) mowed and edged etc. How nice that is! Hopefully, his workers will be able to carry some heavy stuff off our back porch as well. Jesus and Manuel are great employees/work horses!
Christopher's soccer team just won their game and will have another one in 1/2 an hour. As much as I try to be quiet at the games...I just can't control myself!! For the summer we are playing only 2 other teams. Our team is our regular season team, the other teams are a collection of kids to make up special summer teams. The coaches collect as many good players as they can to play for them. The coaches we are against are the 2nd and 3rd place teams from the last 2 regular seasons...they really want to beat us.
We didn't get registration forms in the mail and almost forgot to sign Christopher up for the fall, that would have been terrible if we forgot!! I might go ahead and sign Cat up too. She would be in the under 5 group, playing indoor soccer. Sign-ups are over on the 21st, if you wanted to put your kids in for the fall.
Ok, we're off for game #2 for the day.

The big news of the day...it is raining!

Guess what?...It is raining!

Happy 4th of July!

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Psalm 62:5-8 (ESV)

I can't believe we are already on verse 6 for our summer family memorization. We are all learning together and hiding God's word in our hearts, we have really enjoyed this. I usually go over the verses with the kids everytime we sit down to eat our meals. Calixto is usually on his own since he isn't home with us throughout the day. The challenge for him and me is that we may already know the scripture but, often we know it in a different version so, it takes some work to get the correct wording in the English Standard version. Christopher makes sure we say it word perfect!
Yesterday we visited another church in town, we know friends there and had a nice lunch with them afterward. We really hope that we can find a church home soon and begin to feel part of a body again. I must say that I have enjoyed driving to church together as a family. For some that may seem inconsequential but, it is a big thing to us. We are so used to taking 2 vehicles and leaving at 2 different times. Now on the way to church we practice our verses and enjoy the family time before worship. Catherine is doing pretty well sitting in the service. We give her strict guidelines to follow throughout the service...these have not been followed completely yet but, she is making progress and we are being consistent with what we expect from her. She loved yesterday's service saying it was very "cool".
For those of you not living in Texas, I think I may have seen Noah and the ark floating by!! It has rained so much, I think it may start raining soon, it just got very dark out. I can't even remember the last day we had without rain. Fortunately we aren't having floods like areas in North Texas and Oklahoma. It has kept our electric bills down too, so that is a good thing too. Yep...it just started pouring!! Funny, we bought a heat inefficient house with a leaky roof and then had a very cold winter and a very wet spring!! If it would stop raining we could get the leaks fixed!!
My aunt and uncle came through for a quick visit on Friday. This is the Uncle that performed our wedding (12 years ago in 2 weeks). We had such a nice visit with them although it was way too short. They had their dog with them and Chessie loved the company, she was acting like her old self again! They left on Sat morning and my parents came that afternoon and left for NJ Sun morning. Two quick visits, I felt kind of like a bed and breakfast!
We bought some office furniture at Sam's yesterday so I'm going to try to put some together...