the streets of hoopla..............

last night, after having devotions, max was asked to pray.
his prayer went something like this....

"Dear Lord. Thank you for this day. thank you for our food. please be with the people on the streets of HOOPLA that have no food today.....(there was more but i was laughing so hard, i missed the end).

so when he was done, i asked him where HOOPLA was, thinking it was a new country (ya, i sucked at geography!) they were learning about at school. in his most serious face he said, "i couldn't think of another street name so i made one up".

i think that one made God chuckle too!! :)
out of the mouth of babes...

Please Pray......

For those who don't know, my parents are in china, doing God's work. the job that they have embarked upon is a risky, yet life changing for those on the other end of their 'gifts'. their trip got off to a rocky start with my dad being very sick. he was down for a few days, they went to work, then mom got it. thankfully, hers didn't last as long. they are now both feeling better and have set out to do everything in their power to do what God has called them to.
yesterday they took a day off and took a ride on a junk boat and i'm sure did some shopping. great shopping there!! :)
we would covet your prayers as i know my folks would too. specifically, pray for safety in traveling, eyes to be closed when needed and opened at the right time.
we are so proud of them.
they should be home on saturday. we've missed them SO much around here!
if you have any questions, you can email me. that seems to be a better way to talk about this. 3littleliks@clearwire.net
it's now 1;30 am. i guess i should start thinking about going to bed.
nighty.night! :)

Party grill night!!!

almost 2 years ago, after having a 'party grill' party with friends, i decided to invest in one of our own. well, this afternoon, i dusted it off and a party was had!!
the boys thought this was the "COOLEST THING EVER"!!! normally, i would have cut up chicken, steak, lots of veggies but since it was a last-minute party, we made do with what we had. pancake mix, eggs, mushrooms, ham, cheese, french bread, pizza sauce and pepperoni. oh,the things that can be created with just a few ingredients!! (i'm liking this cooking thing). max was the bravest of the group. big shocker coming from the boy who LOVES food! he has some unidentified combinations on his plate but who cares, he ate it. :)
sam suggested that we make this our Sunday night tradition! it was unanimous!!

One of lifes MOST PRECIOUS sightings......one of my boys reading the BEST book ever written!

money well spent.....

there are things that they are 'required' to do simply because they belong to our family. however, i am NOT above paying my children for certain extra chores around the house...especially those that i HATE to do. folding socks is one of those chores!! i love doing laundry, love the sorting, washing and i don't even mind the folding but its the sorting of the socks that i could do without. ssssooooo, on Saturday, when i noticed that socks were running low in drawers, i decided to put out all the stops and see which kid i could 'sucker' into doing it for me. first i offered one penny a pair. i had 0 takers. so i upped the auntie (i know that isn't the right way to spell it. whatever) to FIVE cents a pair!!! i now had TWO takers!!! it cost me a whopping $2.05. best money i spent in weeks!! they even asked if they could do it next Saturday too. it's worth it to me to possibly give up a coffee from starbucks a week, just to have a few sock-fairies in the house!! yup, think i'm on to something here.........

Sam's 4th grade class christmas party.....

welcome to our new newphew elijah calvin grant black

the big flood....

it's been a very interesting week here in whatcom county. we've had flooding unlike people have seen in years. we have officially experienced a "rain-day' at LC. who would've thought?? the rain continues to fall tonight,however, most of the major flooding has receded. our life on the Visser road was fairly uneventful....our road was flooded, but drivable. the creek/ditch on our side yard was overflowing into our yard and the kids lost most of the gear in their tackle box. (that's the price you get for leaving it outside in your 'fort'). they were funny because every few mins. they'd run inside yelling, "mom, i found my power bait or mom, we found an old lawn mover tire OR MOM, we found a happy meal toy." i gave them strict warnings about going too close to the RUNNING water but slowly, little by little, they made their way closer. giving into their pleas, i finally put on my boots and walked the yard with them, knowing that if i was out there, they would be able to have a better view. "can't we just put our toes in? mom, just a little of my boot? just up to my knees? can't we just swim?" just for the record, i didn't' let them swim! :) after the newness of playing in the water wore off, we packed up and hit every 'puddle' we could find in town. i've posted some incredible pictures above. our old house, on the double ditch road was even partly under water. in all the years living there, we had never even seen it get half way up the lawn so it was amazing to see it flowing under the house. we are thankful that we had no damage here but our hearts go out to those who have lost so much over the past week.