MY MISSION TO RUSSIA -A CALLING

We fell asleep in the van again on our way back. Victor brought us to his home for dinner. He built his own home from the ground up. It was constructed very well. I was impressed. It was the first house I walked into that didn't have a bad smell either. There were two bedrooms on the top floor. He had a kitchen, den, livingroom, and one bathroom. They also had a very plush garden taking up the whole area of their backyard.

The meal they prepared was YUMMY! My palette had finally been served justice. His wife made rice with pork. The sauce was something I had never tasted before. There is a vegetable called marrow. They grow it in their garden. That day, she had been pickling some vegetables, including the marrow. She threw the leftovers in the sauce. She also made a cucumber, tomato, parsley salad. The vegies were so vibrant in color. Of course, everything came from their garden. Their harvest had certainly been bountiful. Everything was absolutely delicious, right down from the bread with cheese with butter to the marzipan cookies as well.

We rolled ourselves into the livingroom after dinner to visit with Victor and his family. He had a teenage daughter and son. Victor asked me to sing for their congregation in church. I told him I had been considering it since the first time they asked me but I would let the pastors know prior to service that morning if I would sing. It would be my first solo singing a capella. (no music accompaniment). I was trying to remember the words to a song we had sang in choir the year before that would have been perfect. I kept running the words in my head and there were a couple verses I just couldn't remember. I had been writing them down in the van as they came to me on the way home from the village. It had come down to one sentence that I needed....I just couldn't remember. That night, sitting on Victor's couch, I said a little prayer to God. "God, please help me remeber the words to this song. If I don't remember, I know it is not your will to sing. If you give me the words, I know that it is." Two hours later, we were back in the van, being driven back to Posha's apartment. The words just slammed into my head. I got so excited! I screamed out at everyone and nearly gave them a heart attack. God wanted me to sing!

MY MISSION TO RUSSIA - A HUMBLE MOMENT

The pastor took us on a tour of the church they were building. It was directly behind their current church of service. Their new church was completely built . It was made of white brick. Each brick had been laid by hand. The mortar had been carved intricately in between each brick, not slabbed on. The interior was still in need of finishing touches. They did not have the funds to complete it. The pastor was a little emotional as he explained their situation. He had put his heart and soul into the project and they were at a stand still. He explained his intentions for the church once they were able to get it up and running. There would be a children's service on the top floor. The adult congregation would convene below.

While the men continued to discuss construction plans, the girls and I went outside to ponder on our surroundings. We sat on a pile of bricks and looked out into the country. A little girl from across the street came for a drink from a well. No drinking fountains here! She had to pump it a couple times for water to come out. There was a little boy herding a group of cows far off in the distance. I could hear roosters crowing, dogs barking and children playing.

I began to feel a calming peace. These people have such a different life than we do. We are always so stressed out and rushed to move on to the next thing. We want more and more luxeries and usually get what we want, even when we don't need them. They have the simplicity of only needing the things for survival. Their only hardship in life is to stay healthy and to be able to survive from winter to winter. While we have swing sets, swimming pools and grocery stores, they have gardens, chickens and cows. One elderly lady actually approached Kevin and asked him how his harvest was this year. He was a bit thrown off with the question but had to explain that we don't have personal gardens. At least most of us Americans don't. And most Americans don't fill their backyards completely with their year's supply of food!

Feeling quite humbled at that moment, I went back into the old church with the adults and we sang together.

MY MISSION TO RUSSIA - THE VILLAGE OF PAGAR

Saturday, August 18, 2001

We set off for Pagar at 8:00 A.M. It was another two hour drive. The road we were driving on would have taken us directly into Germany. It was a two lane, back-country road. I observed many vendors on the side of the road. They were selling squash and watermelon. My nose did not handle the environment very well. I was miserable.

Pagar wasn't much different than Tier Baum. We had about thirty kids. We had about 30 adults too. The church was small. It was one room and then there was a kitchen. We did the same program but we had the crafts outside, underneath a bunch of fruit trees. I could smell the fruit. It was the smell of over-ripe apples; sweet and pungeant. It was warm and muggy too. Thankfully, there was a small breeze. The shade from the trees helped make the atmosphere peacefull.

Many of the women joined the children and made crafts of their own. One lady was having such a good time, we had to leave her with some more paint so she could finish her project. She was painting a picture of Jesus. The women were laughing at me because my scarf kept falling off of my head. (In the church, it is custom for married women to cover their heads with scarves.)

Some of the elderly women had a large mass of facial hair and gaps in their mouths where teeth should have been. That was interesting to say the least. They were all very sweet and hospitable people though. Once again, we were presented with a large meal. We had beet borscht, mashed potatoes, boiled hot dog (at least I think that is what it was. I disliked it tremendously. It wasn't pink like our hot dogs. It was a grey-white.) There was also a little morsel of fat and meat on the side of our potatoes. I couldn't eat those but the potatoes were good. The cooks also served curd over pastry. We were instructed to dip it into honey. I am not much of a curd person so I just couldn't do it. It looked too much like a clump of sour milk. I pretty much stuck with the potatoes, tomatoes and bread. By this time, I was feeling a bit discouraged with the food.

MY MISSION TO RUSSIA - THE BOYS AND GIRLS CAMP

This is Posha, our interpreter

Victor took us to the boys and girls camp for a visit as we drove back into town. We were given a tour of the grounds. The children were playing ping-pong and badminton. Some were swimming in the lake and some were fishing. One of our guys from last year swam in that lake and got a really bad skin rash from the water. We would not be doing any swimming there.

We stayed for a short time because we had planned to spend more time with them during our stay in Russia. The children were all teenagers. They were going to be there another week. They were getting ready to eat dinner. When they were all eating, we walked through the dining room to tour the kitchen. The kids clapped and cheered at us. That was pretty cool, although we didn't do anything special. They did it again as we left.

Our day was almost over but there was one more adventure before we called it a night. Posha forgot his house key. We had to drive to his mom's house to get a spare key. Once again, people were all over the streets. It was dark out and it seemed as if everyone was out of their homes just wandering about. Kids were playing. Adults were walking. I have never seen so many people strolling around in my own neighborhood. It was very serene.

The road to Posha's mom's house was very bumpy. It was a dirt road that had huge pockets and pits. We were four wheeling in Russia! Posha got his key and surprised us all with apples from their tree. We all laughed because we knew he was mocking us. We didn't want to disgrace Russia so we ate the dang apples.

When we got back to his apartment, he prepared a meal for us before we went to bed. It wasn't as extravegant as the meal his mother prepared for us. He was only 20 years old and a bachelor at that. We had bread, cheese, sausage, and chocolate. It was 10:00 P.M. so we were not very hungry. Apparently, late evening snacks and full on meals are common as we soon found out. We ate the food anyways. We didn't go to bed until about 1:00 A.M.

MY MISSION TO RUSSIA - DINNER WITH THE PASTOR

We were invited to the pastor's house for dinner. When we pulled up to the house, I saw a plush garden pretty much the size of a lot. It was very green. Next to the house was a small, swamp-like lake they used for watering their garden.

A few weeks ago, the pastor's wife died giving birth. His sister was helping the family out during this time. She cooked us a meal of beet borscht, macaroni with chicken, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, bread, curd, potatoes, bagel pretzels that tasted like animal crackers, and two different chewy candies that tasted like sugary honey and the other that was minty-fruity. I didn't care for either of them. She served us milk straight from the cow. It was warm and interesting.

The problem with my meal here was my observation of the kitchen. The kitchen was the first room prior to entering the main body of the house. It was a covered porch. The smell was pungeantly rancid and once again there were flies all over the food she had obviously prepared for us. She had it all sitting on the counter, ready to be served. If I hadn't of seen that before we entered the house, I would have been fine. Out of sight, out of mind if you know what I mean. I really, really tried, but I couldn't eat much of the food. I noticed that many of my teammates didn't either. We all came prepared with medicine (Cipro) in case we ate bad food on the trip but I just couldn't get that image out of my mind.

After dinner, we proceeded to the living room. Toys were randomly displayed on shelves and tables. There were items of mismatch everywhere. There were curtains hanging up in the doorways and unfinished walls that didn't reach the ceiling. I later learned that the heat circulates better in the winter for them that way. They did have a t.v. and a vcr. They also had a piano that was in serious need of tuning. The pastor's tween daughter played and sang for us. Children of Russia are highly educated in music and know how to play an instrument or two. My hosts found out by my big-mouth teammates that I sing for our church back at home. I was a choir member and worship singer for our congregation. They asked me to sing for them but I was slightly overwhelmed so I wasn't quite ready to come out of my shell for them. I didn't really want to be the center of attention in that way.

We sat in the living room visiting; Posha translating for us as we talked. The pastor's wife kept trying to get us to eat apples she had picked from their tree. We kept politely refusing and she agrily said, "You will be disgracing Russia, if you do not eat these!" in which Posha translated for us. We ate them after that comment. We left soon after that, at about 5:00 P.M. If we didn't eat flies with our dinner, we were for sure catching them in our mouths while we slept in the van. We were out of it with exhuastion.

MY MISSION TO RUSSIA - OUR FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH THE KIDS

We slept until about 9:00 A.M. Posha heated water up for us on the stove so that we could take a sponge bath; no running water! His mother came from her home and cooked us breakfast. We had eggs over hash browns and onions, bread and sausage, fresh sliced tomatoes, pickles, yogurt, cheese and chocolate. It was a real feast! From here on out, there was always coffee and tea with EVERY meal.

At 10:00 A.M. we were off to Tier Baum to work with the kids. We stopped at one of the village markets to purchase candy and bananas for the kids. It was an outdoor market, so we could smell the chicken as soon as we got out of the cars. No....it was not fried chicken. I almost gagged when I saw it. It was raw, and all chopped up in pieces on a wooden display booth. First, it was a hot, humid day. We are talking August people! Second, there were flies buzzing all around the meat, and yes, on the meat. It had an awful odor. I tried taking my eyes off of the meat to experience the new sights. They were selling fresh eggs, vegetables, bread, canned and jarred foods, even shoes and clothing. We quickly got our goodies and left ten minutes later.

My allergies went overdrive on this trip. The entire two hour drive consisted of me sneezing and wheezing. My eyes were itchy and watery.

We were entertained by being educated from our driver, Victor, on the rules of the road. There were none! He would pass people on the right and left, even when there were not lanes. Pedestrians do not have the right of way in Russia, we soon learned as well. People were everywhere! There were hardly any sidewalks, so many were walking in the roads. There was no mercy for pedestrians walking in the road and there wasn't even any mercy for other drivers. Victor weaved in and out of the drivers and walkers like a crazy man. I think we would have a serious case of road rage if people drove that way in America.

We took a dirt road to get to the village. We had to slow down for a herd of cows crossing the road. Farther up, I saw a little boy with a flock of geese. We saw chickens and goats wandering freely. I felt as if I landed on another planet. We pulled up to this little cottage that served as the church. The children were all sitting outside on the steps with curious looks on their faces. They were all smiling and waving and very excited. We all entered the church together. They immediately sat down at the long, rectangular tables arranged in the center of the room and quietly waited for us to begin. Faye, went around and video taped the kids. They waved and made funny faces. Despite their goofiness of kids being kids, they were so well behaved and strangely polite. There were about twenty children in various ages.

We started the program by teaching them a song in English. That was my job. I was the music teacher. I taught them "This Little Light of Mine" with hand movements. Howard, our leader, taught them the scriptures from Matthew 14:22-32 "Jesus walks on water". The kids got to make scripture books by painting on the covers. They were so frugal with the paint. We had to give them another art project so the paint we poured out on the plates would be used. We actually had them make mobiles out of the plates. Talk about recycling! Kevin, my hubby, took a group of kids outside and showed them how to use the frisbee. We were all beaming when we left the children. Several of them gave hugs and said "good-bye!" in English. It was overall, a wonderful, fulfilling, first-time expereince working with the kids of Russia.

NOVEMBER GIVEAWAY - THANKSGIVING FAMILY RECIPES

I do love to eat! Those of you who are reading about my trip to Russia will notice how much I talk about the food all throughout my journal. Let me tell you, the food there is very different, You will have to read it to find out. (By the way, I would love to know if anybody is actually reading this. Drop in a comment from time to time to encourage me to keep on going with the story).

I just love tasting different things. I have had snails, frogs legs, cow tongue, and cow stomach (menudo) to name a few. Anyways, that is not really the topic of this post. But it is about food!

Since it is Thanksgiving this month, I thought it would be nice to get a collection of recipes from you. Share a traditional recipe that you use in your family that is just to die for. Every year, we make homemade apple pie. I get chastised pretty heavily if I neglect to make it for my family. They have to have their apple pie. I guess I do too.

We have our own apple tree so we even use our own apples. My youngest daughter loves to use the apple, peeler, corer slicer I bought from Pampered Chef years ago. It is the best! It saves soooo much time. Below, is the recipe I use. It is yummy with vanilla ice cream.

For those of you who would like to contribute recipes, I will enter you in a drawing for a set of three 80z soy wax candles made by me and sold in my store! Yes, three!!! You get to pick the scents of course.

I would love to hear if anybody uses any of the recipes that have been posted. (Drawing will be held on November 30th - my birthday!) I didn't get a lot of participation last month. Hopefully this is more of a motivating giveaway. Please play and enter early so that we can plan for and use these recipes perhaps for Thanksgiving.

CRUNCHY CARAMEL APPLE PIE

Pastry for one 9-inch deep piecrust

1/4 cup of sugar

3 tablespoons of flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

5 1/2 cups of peeled/sliced apples

CRUMB TOPPING:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup of flour

1/2 cup quick oats

1/2 cup butter

CRUNCHY CARAMEL TOPPING:

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/3 cup of caramel ice-cream sauce

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Next, toss the apples with the sugar mixture and pour them into the prepared piecrust.

Next, combine the crumb topping ingredients. Sprinkle the topping over the apple mixture. Bake the pie for 20-30 minutes. Then, cover with foil and bake for another 20 minutes, until the apples are tender. Remove the pie from the oven and sprinkle on the pecans, then drizzle with the caramel sauce. YUMMY!!!!

MY MISSION TO RUSSIA - THE TRAIN RIDE

Friday, August 17, 2001

Midnight in Russia is actually the middle of the day for us. Despite the lack of sleep, we managed to stay up for another hour to experience the train ride. We got private suites for 600 rubles. (About $20.00) Our room had two skinny "cot-sized" beds. There was a table in between and a window. It had a bottle of water and a bottle of beer on it. I wanted to try the beer but since we were on a Church function, I didn't think it was wise. It was warm anyways. I like it when it is frosty.

Despite the complementary beverages, it wasn't a luxery suite, that is for sure. There was a musty smell and the linens on the beds had stains on them. The beds were merely benches with a thin cushion on top, so no comfort inn here either. I guess we should have felt fortunate. Common cabins had bunks in which four people to a room had to share. I got a peek at one of those and it was a pretty tight squeeze.

There was a hallway outside of our cabin. We had access to the hall windows. We were allowed to open them. It felt very nice to feel the breeze of the Russian air. It was dark, so we couldn't see much but we did notice many power lines and nuclear plants as we whizzed by.

We didn't spend much time looking since there wasn't much to look at. We went back into our cabins to try to get some sleep. The train was so clickety-clackety-rickety-rackety! It was very difficult getting any sleep. At one point it jerked so hard, the water bottle fell off the table and hit Kevin on the head. This went on for about six hours. At one point, I had to use the restroom. Guess what? There was a toilet but it wasn't a flushing toilet. No siree. It opened up to the ground below. Ewwwwww!!!!! I could feel the breeze on my hiny. That was interesting.

When we got off of the train, we had to walk to Posha's apartment. I think we walked about a mile, dragging our entire luggage along with our exhausted bodies. It was 6:00 A.M. When we got to his apartment, we dumped out luggage in a heap and collapsed into whatever beds Posha had .....and slept.

MY MISSION TO RUSSIA - THE TRAIN STATION

Customs was interesting. As we stayed in line waiting to go through, we observed the Russian people around us. The women were so skinny! Their clothing style was mismatched. For example, one lady was wearing tight, green, snake skin patterned pants and a black sports shirt. There were young boys in girls clothing as well. One lady had a backless shirt on. I noticed a large scar on her back. It looked like a whip mark.

Once we got through, we proceeded to get our baggage and find our interpreter, Posha. This means Paul in American. He was late so we thought we might have to go on to the train station without him. A taxi driver was trying to manipulate us by offering us an expensive taxi drive. They were trying to charge us $100 for a ride to the train station. It was only fifteen minutes away. Posha arrived at that time. He managed to get us a ride with another company for $45. I can't believe that other guy tried to scam us! We were a little scared of those guys we were dealing with. They looked like thugs. When we pulled away with our new taxi driver, I looked back and saw the men scowling at us. I was happy to have a Russian interpreter with us.

We were on the freeway. It looked just like our American freeway. The cars were small, compact and totally unwashed. I noticed billboards; some were in American, most were in Russian. There were several city-like buildings similar to the dumpy ones we see in our big cities. Amidst the not so pretty buildings, were beautiful domes. They were amazing to look at. The sun glaring on them from the horizon made them shine like gold. I think, some of them actually are gold. Moscow looked like a fairy tale land.

I noticed the smell of the train station right away. Not good. It smelled like musty urine. The drab exterior on the outside was uncomparable to the beautiful gothic interior. The ceiling had stone carvings and chandeliers hung all throughout. I felt like I had stepped back in time.

We found a corner to wait for Posha to get our tickets. About ten feet away from us a man was passed out on the ground. He was laying face down on his stomach. I noticed that liquid trickled out from under him. I think he had just wet himself. I believe he was drunk. He lay there, unmoving for about thirty minutes before three Russian soldiers came. We tried not to stare. I wasn't sure if that would be "interfering" and landing us a ticket into the Russian jail. The soldiers started kicking the guy in the head with their steel toed boots. They stepped on his fingers too. The soldiers finally pulled the guy up and escorted him outside.

My first bathroom experience was at the train station. It cost 6 rubles (about twenty cents) to be able to use the public restroom. An attendant stood outside of the room collecting the money. I could still smell urine behind the strong cleaning solution inside. I entered the stall but there was no toilet! There was only a small hole in the ground. It was all dirt too. Oh my!! Needless to say, it was very difficult peeing in that hole. My hair was real long and I did not have it tied up nor did I have anything to tie it up with. I did the best I could to hold it back as I aimed for the hole. O.K. here it is. I peed on my hair a little. Not a good start!

MY MISSION TO RUSSIA - DAY ONE - THE FLIGHT

My husband and I went to Russia in 2001 for two weeks. We helped lead a Summer VBS program for children . We loved it so much, we actually went back in 2002 for three weeks. I kept a journal all throughout our trip. I would like to share it with you all. I assure you that it is quite entertaining and humbling. There were some scary moments, tearful moments, totally hilarious moments and unforgetful moments. I think that reading about my experiences will touch you in one way or another. Each day, I will try to contribute a portion of my journal. I will also post pictures as they fit in with the tale. We didn't have a digital during our first trip but we did for the second. The pictures will get better as you continue to read. It is over fifty pages long so please visit often and.... happy reading!!

August 15 , 2001

This was it! Our first mission trip and we got to go to Russia! Our last American dinner for the next two weeks was a ham and cheese pepperoni pizza from Domino's. That night we discovered cracker crust and it was delightful! In the morning, we prepared our wills, "just in case" . We then went to the Beachside Cafe for our last American breakfast. Steve and Debbie Sowles picked us up at our house at 11:30 A.M. We headed off to Howard's House to pick up the rest of the group. We were on the road by 12:00 P.M. I couldn't believe we were actually on our way to a foreign country.

We arrived at LAX around 2:30 P.M. The flight counter for Aeroflot was not open yet so we sat in limbo for a couple hours watching people in the airport. We were in the international part of the airport, so there were a lot of foreigners wandering about. Watching people is a great form of entertainment. I love to do that waiting in lines at amusement parks too. At 4:30 we checked our luggage in. Our flight was delayed for 45 minutes. We finally took off at 7:45 P.M.

Our journey in the air lasted twelve hours. Most of the passengers on the plane were Russian. The crew was Russian. Faye and Lindsey, our two teenagers of the group got yelled at by a Russian passenger sitting behind them. The girls were quite rowdy and the lady did not appreciate their noise. The lady spoke in Russian and I think that it was along the lines of "Sit down and shut up!" At one point during the trip, I had to take a potty break. When I tried to return to my seat, the stewardess was blocking the way with her cart. She pursed her lips in irritation at me because she had to move so I could get through. She wasn't very nice to me. I was slightly intimidated.

We certainly were fed well! Our first meal was served about two hours after we left the ground. Kevin and I had chicken and noodles in gravy, salad, bread, cheese, and chocolate parfait cake. We were served a coffee flavored cake at 2:00 A.M. At 5:00 A.M. we had another meal! Ham and cheese pockets, bread and cheese, crackers and white parfait cake.

As we got over Russian land, I noticed that the roofs of the buildings were shiny. I learned that metal is the primary material for many roofs due to the harsh weather in Russia. It lasts longer than wood, tile or tar.

We touched ground at 7:00 P.M. Russian time. For us that was 8:00 A.M. American time.

ORANGE IS THE COLOR FOR OCTOBER

Orange is definately it for October. Why it's Halloween of course! That means pumpkins and candy corn.....my favorite this time of year. Both are delicious. We grow our own pumpkins in the backyard for carving and eating. For the past month now, we have been buying a bag of candy corn every time we go to Walmart. This time, I will ask you all to hunt around etsy for some great orange, Halloween type things you like. Anything with pumpkins or candy corn would be a plus. I will have a drawing on Halloween Eve for this stuffed decor pumpkin I made for anyone who participates. Isn't it cute?

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO THIS HALLOWEEN?

Yippee!!! No more trick or treating for me!! Yes, my girls have officially declared themselves too old to go trick or treating. My feet are very happy this year. I will treasure all of those years of walking up and down streets with my precious little ones for sure.....but I am glad those days are over. Last year it rained on Halloween. That was a real damper but we still went trick or treating. Ember dressed up as Susan from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. (pictured on the right.....and yes I made that costume.) Caroline dressed up as a goth girl which for the life of me, I can't find the picture. I will look. She made her costume and it was quite creative (all black). In the meantime, you can enjoy a picture of my cutie pies from about four years ago; my pumpkin head and sassy feline (also pictured right).

Caroline suggested to me the other day that we have a Halloween party this year. This is her idea: Go to the store and buy lots of candy and fill our own treat bags. Then, we can make Halloween cookies and Mexican pizza (her favorite).....drink lots of soda and rent a bunch of scary movies. That sounds like pure bliss to me. So....that is what we are doing this year. I don't even have to make costumes this year!!

Now it is your turn! What are you doing this Halloween....and (yes, two questions) what are your little ones dressing up as this year? It seems quite appropriate to be giving away the set of Halloween treat bags pictured above for this months's drawing, to be held on Halloween night. We will be home to do this after all!!!

HOW DO YOU TELL YOUR FAMILY YOU LOVE THEM?

September usually starts out busy for us moms who are sending off their children to school. I won't leave out us wives who send our husband's off to work with a full lunch box. I spoil my family this way every morning by taking the time to do this for them. It is my way of making them feel special even though they are perfectly capable of doing this themselves. (Oh....I make sure I get my rewards too...like my husband has to get me gas in my car when it is empty and he has to make my cup of coffee for me every morning. My daughter's will walk to the store down the street and get me a slurpee when I have a craving. ) Anyways, I am getting to the topic for this posting.

How do you tell your family you love them? Do you leave cards or special notes in their lunch boxes? For years, I have been taking one bite out of their sandwich. I call them love bites. I don't do them all the time, otherwise they wouldn't be special. My daughter just reminded me this morning that she hasn't gotten a love bite in her sandwich for a long time, which gave me the idea for this topic. So....tell us what you do to make your family feel special. Pass on your unique ideas so that we can use them too! Any one who participates will qualify for the drawing at the end of the month. The prize? A snack bag/sandwich bag set like the one shown above. The drawing will be held on September 30th!

RED IS THE COLOR FOR SEPTEMBER

Red is a great color for September I think. When I think of "red" in September, I think of apples, leaves and flowers. Of course there are many things in our great world that have this bold color. Let's build our own treasury of our favorite "red" things we find on Etsy. There will be a drawing on September 31st for this red pendant for anyone who participates. I will post my great find as soon as I get a chance to look.

LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!

Every blog seems to have a theme. This blog is about sharing and caring. I personally, would like to put my English degree to good use so we will tell lots's of stories here on KB Exquisites. This month's topic: DARN THAT KID!



Do I have a story to tell you! The other day, my youngest daughter, Ember knocked over her fish tank. It fell to the floor with a SPLASH!! In the wink of an eye, the whole contents of the tank, including Floyd the fish was soaking into the carpet. My husband had to vacuum up the water, rocks and algae. He had to tear up the carpet to get air on it. For the next three days we had a fan blowing on it so it could get completely dry before we laid the carpet back down. What a mess! Don't worry, Floyd survived....and one good thing came of it. Ember had to gut out her room and give it a good cleaning. Yes...it was a DARN THAT KID moment where we had to tell ourselves..."We love our child, we love our child."



Now it is your turn. Tell us a story of something your kids did that tested your patience. Anyone who contributes will be eligible for this month's giveaway. A drawing will be held on August 30th for a set of three snack bags like these. The lucky winner will get to choose from my store.

NEW AT THIS!

Hello! Welcome to my Blog! I am sooooooooooooooooo new at this so bear with me as I begin to educate myself on creating and building this blog. I think it will be fun. For now, I will stew over ideas for postings. More to come soon. I promise!