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Sumo, Sushi, and Salvation

2010-11-04T17:50:00.009-06:00

Here's some pictures of the festivities from this past weekend....

The "Sumo Sisters"-Maren and her friend Brooke

Christoper "Sushi" Scott

Joshua being baptized!! Yeah!!!

Picture of the Day-- A Memory of Uganda

2010-06-10T19:23:00.008-06:00

Uganda has been on my mind A LOT lately-If you asked my wife I'm sure she'd say,"When is it NOT on your mind"? I think its because I'm nearing the 1 year anniversary of the trip I took with Compassion International - When I saw this picture on the internet earlier today, it just cracked me up.. It was taken in the capital city of Kampala, otherwise known as "Kampothole"-according to the article accompanying the picture. I do remember thinking that I would never complain about our roads here in the states when I got home.

ONLY IN UGANDA could you catch fish in a pothole!! I will attest to the fact that they really are deep enough to fish in. I think some of them actually were deep and wide enough to swallow a whole car!

HELP HAITI LIVE

2010-02-27T15:18:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone,

If you are looking for something to do this evening, without even going outside in the wonderful weather, then look no further!!

Tonight at 7:30pm cst. is the Help Haiti Live Concert. The event is actually a ticketed concert event taking place tonight at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville TN. HOWEVER the event is also being streamed live at HelpHaitiLive.com --so you can watch from the comfort of your own home!

"Help Haiti Live" is a production of Shaun Groves and Synergy Production Group for Compassion International .

100% of on-line donations through HelpHaitiLive.com will go to Compassion International's Haiti disaster relief fund. 100% of net proceeds from ticket sales go to Compassion International's Haiti disaster relief fund as well.

Scheduled to participate tonight are Alison Kraus and Union Station, Amy Grant, Big Kenny, Matt Kearney, Jars of Clay, Rebecca St. James, Brandon Heath, Need to Breathe, Dave Barnes, Matt Wertz and Switchfoot's Jon Foreman.

So if you want to stay in tonight, put on your pj's , make some popcorn ,and grab the laptop..it should be some great music for a great cause!!

What the Heck??

2009-09-10T19:59:00.009-06:00

What the heck is going on??!!

Barbara Mandrell calls Missy on her birthday......

and tonight.........wait for it...........wait for it...........

George Jones came over to visit us!!

We were told, by the neighbors, he was waiting on our front porch last night too, but we weren't home. Darn......Soooo glad he stopped back by tonight!

P.S. In case you aren't a country music fan-George Jone's nickname has always been "The Possum."

A GOOD DAY!!

2009-07-16T15:18:00.014-06:00

Well today was the big day we had all been waiting for-THE DAY TO FINALLY MEET OUR SPONSORED CHILDREN! Alot of people were a little nervous, myself included. Questions swirled through our heads the night before like,"What if they are shy and don't want anything to do with us?" " What if they don't like what we have painstakingly picked out to bring them?" What if.... What if....

But we got over it quickly, when we started walking to where we were going to meet them. The plan was, we were to be able to be with the children, from about 9:00am to 4:30pm But as we were walking, Dennis,who is a Ugandan working for Compassion and has been over coordinating all our stops on this trip, came up to me and said, "I just wanted you to know that there is some transportation problems for Felix, he is on his way, but it is going to be awhile. I'll have to be honest and say my first thought was "Oh no!!, I've traveled all this way and I'm not gonna be able to see him.

There was one other sponsor who's child was delayed in traffic as well. Everything worked out fine though. The other sponsor's child arrived about 1:30, and Felix ended up arriving at about 3pm. I was thankful just to be able to spend 1 1/2 hrs with him. But it turns out our tour leaders told me that since he was late, he would be able to stay and join our group for dinner at 7:30pm. So he got to enjoy soccer/football, and we went into a wading pool to WADE but Felix decided to go swimming with his clothes on. :) Felix was accompanied by his mother, his 11 month old baby brother Joshua, and his Compassion project worker, who also helped to translate what Felix was saying to me. So, he ended up getting to stay the full amount of time. His family didn't leave until almost 10:00pm

I think God had it all planned out this way for 2 reasons:

1.)Since Felix was not there yet,I was able to do what I love doing...Taking Pictures!! I got to capture all the moments of the other sponsors meeting there kids. I also got alot of shots of them playing games etc. It was an emotional time for some! Beforehand, we had kind of wandered how, everyone would be able to take pictures as we were all meeting our kids at the same time. Problem solved!

2.) I think Felix wanted to make a Grand Entrance. He was a fashion extraordinaire as you'll see in his pictures below.

Enjoy the pictures....and if you should feel led to sponsor child please click here

Sponsors were lined up on the left and children were instructed to run across and find their sponsor.

Group photo of all sponsors, children, & Compassion project workers,

No, I didn't tell him to put his right hand like that! He did it on his own. :)

This is Felix's mother, his 11 month old brother Joshua, Felix, and me.

Felix opening his back pack full of Goodies!

And enjoying the fruits of his labor.

Well, I have about another gazillion pictures, but that is all for now, the internet is painfully slow, and I have to be up early. Tomorrow we are leaving Kampala and heading north to the town of Lira. I think it is about a 5 1/2 hr. drive. We will get a break from driving as we are stopping at a Compassion Project along the way. We will be staying in Lira until Monday morning, and then heading back here to Kampala. We fly out of Uganda bright and early Wednesday morning.

I Made It!

2009-07-13T13:27:00.020-06:00

Hello from Kampala, Uganda!!

After two nights of travel with VERY LITTLE sleep, our group arrived in UGANDA!! I still can't quite get over the fact, I am in AFRICA!

We arrived at 7:45am today Uganda time,-11:45pm yesterday IL time. It took us about 1 1/2 hrs to go thru customs, and then another hour to get to our hotel. After arriving and getting checked in, we had about 1 hour to RELAX, before eating lunch and heading out to experience Compassion in Uganda. We went to the Kansanga Child Survival Project which has a program which focuses on teaching new mothers family planning, prenatal care , and infant and toddler care. The project manager, started with a worship and then expained what they do here. We got to sit in on a class for mothers and their infants and learned about the home visits they do with the mothers once or twice a month to make sure they are giving proper care to their child. There are approximately 30 mothers they minister to and I think almost every one of them, and their little ones were there today. One thing I like about Compassion is how they show us everything they do. Today they had on hand the infants records, which have recorded every visit they have had with the mother to document her progress. It also has the child's immunizations, Dr. records, everything you could think of, to make sure the child is being treated correctly.

We also watched as some of the women there, made necklaces, out of strips of paper,. They sold these to help support their families. They even asked us to sit down with them and showed us how to roll up the paper on little pins, then when it was completed were used as the beads.

Lets just say that I have NO future in jewelry making! It was also neat to watch them sit around in a group,while doing this, and every once in awhile, one of the women would start singing a worship song very softly and before you knew it, they were all belting it out dancing and praising Jesus. It was almost like you had stepped back into another era in time. Things definitely move at a slower pace here, unless you are on the roadways, then its a whole different story. We also went on home visits of three different women in the program. More on that later.

Well, its really late here, and I have to be up and ready to go at 7:00am. I will leave you with some pictures from today. The kids are awesome! Always smiling and happy, even when, their living conditions are horrendous. As you will see they are big HAMS and love to have their pictures taken and look at themselves in the viewfinder. We started out with babies today, but the older kids just kept showing up.

Enjoy!

The Countdown has Begun!

2009-06-21T18:28:00.006-06:00

We've had alot of strange things in our fridge before-such as forgotten leftovers that have morphed in their sealed bowls into other creatures with hair. We've also had milk that has on its own, turned into a cottage cheese like substance, but here's something I have never, ever, seen in my refrigerator before......

Missy: "Lovey, have you seen the bottle of coffee creamer that I bought at the store?" " I can't find it."

Denny:" Why sure, it's hanging out right behind the gallon of milk and the TYPHOID VACCINE dear!!"

Yes, this past 2 weeks people, in the most painful way, I have realized that in al little less than 3 weeks, I am going to UGANDA, AFRICA with Compassion International. Holy Cow! Where does the time go... it just seems like a few weeks ago that I was praying about this and now it is almost time to leave.

After having 5 different shots, I now have "peace of mind" in knowing that I am safe from the dreaded yellow fever,meningococcal meningitis, polio, hepatitis A, and, tetanus/diptheria/pertussis-the good people at the health department were kind enough to roll that last shot into one :)- instead of three separate ones. God Bless them!!

The shots weren't really that bad, the worst thing was while the nurse went to draw up the shots, she left me to read the literature on the possible side effects of each of them. Big Mistake!

The side effects ranged from the simplest of just having a sore arm, nausea, vomiting, fever to the most drastic -which was from the yellow fever vaccine-which could, just COULD, lead to TOTAL ORGAN SHUTDOWN -1 case reported per every 200,000-300,000 doses given.

Let's see the last time I checked, you needed most of your organs to stay ALIVE!! MY nurse Nan,was quick to reassure me,"Oh don't worry, I've never had anybody die from this"....with a sweet smile on her face. I was quick to follow up with," And how many have you given- 199,999 doses?" I think I would have felt more comfortable in her saying that she had someone kick the bucket in the past-just kidding. But I was quick to remember that God is in control of it all, and rather than look like a wuss, I sucked it up and took the shots.

And guess what, as you can see, I'm still here. I am happy to say that the shots are all over with now, and I just have to take something for malaria-which I will start 2 weeks before I leave and continue taking for 3-4 weeks when I return, and the "LIVE" Typhoid vaccine, that is hanging out on the top shelf of my fridge. I start taking it this week, which consists of 4 pills to be taken one every other day. The "Live" part kinda freaks me out a little. I think I would rather be putting something in me that's dead-not alive,but what the heck--there's no turning back now!

So that is what's going on in my life right now, I will keep you all (probably the 2 of you who still check in here every now and then) up to date on what is going on -btw sorry for the lack of posting in the past 2 months- As long as there is an internet connection -which, believe it or not, there is suppose to be one, I will keep you all informed of my adventure while it's happening on the old blog here.

Talk to you later...

Finding Hope Amidst Hoplessness

2009-04-27T20:00:00.005-06:00

Compassion's newest team of bloggers have landed in India, in the midst of 120+ temperatures, and are already writing some thought provoking blog posts. I encourage you to check out their blogs.

This trip includes bloggers: Melissa Fitzpatrick, Pete Wilson, Anne Jackson, Angie Smith,

Robin Dance

Trip leaders: Shaun Groves, Spence Smith, Patricia Jones, Keely Scott

This team has been telling some AWESOME stories! The pictures are INCREDIBLE as well!

Today, be sure your read this....blogpost by Anne Jackson and her encounter of a little girl named Lakshmi. Anne took part last year in the Uganda blogger tour through Compassion, and I have been following her blog since.

PS-Be sure you grab the tissues. :)

Global Food Crisis Day 09'

2009-03-11T15:36:00.009-06:00

Today Compassion International is partnering with radio stations, media, churches, and bloggers to once again spread the word about the Global Food Crisis, and raise funds that will make a REAL difference to those impacted by it. Lots of bloggers are writing about it today.

The cost of food staples have roughly doubled in many countries where Compassion serves.

The statistics I've been reading literally break my heart, when I think of how much excess we have here in the U.S.

*Each night more than 300 MILLION children go to bed hungry.

*1/3 of the worlds population is undernourished.

*Every day over 12,000 children(one every 7 seconds) die from hunger-related causes.

By donating to the Global Food Crisis Fund, we can:

Provide food vouchers to children and families needing immediate relief.
Provide seeds and agricultural tools so that families can grow their own food as well as earn extra income.
Provide supplemental nutritional services at Compassion-assisted centers around the world.

So I ask you to please consider joining me today in giving to people who have so little resources.

I know times are tough here at home, but even if you can't give today,possibly consider giving next week or next month.

If you have a blog or website, you can post a widget to raise awareness of the crisis, and most importantly, by all means PRAY for those affected by this devastating crisis, and for those organizations like Compassion who act to provide relief.

Joshua Saves the Day!

2009-01-07T05:25:00.000-06:00

It's not everyday you have a 7 yr. old hero in your house!

Yesterday Joshua.....well, I'll just let him tell the story in his own words, and I'll type it here for you all. He asked me to post it here on my blog. He's pretty excited.

Today, I was walking from school to the babysitter's house and then there were 2 police cars and police men standing in the babysitter's driveway.

I ask Josh what he thought at this point? Josh's response: Holy Crap!

And then Josh said the babysitter told him she had accidentally locked herself out of the house, -(no kids inside btw).

I asked Josh how the policemen got to the babysitter's house.

Josh's response: A police man was sitting down the road watching around in case anything happens at school, and the babysitter seen him and told him to come to her house. He called the other policeman to help.

"Then what happened?" I asked Joshua.

Josh's response:They lifted me over the fence to the backyard. They asked one of the other girls
who had come home on the bus, to help first cause she was smaller, but she cried. So they messed with the babysitters window and got it open-and they shoved me through the window, and I went behind the couch and walked through the "boy corner" and through the house and unlocked the front door.

What is the "boy corner?", I asked Josh

Josh's response:It's where me and Jonathon play power rangers all the time Dad!

"Do you EVER let girls in there?", I asked Josh.

Josh's response: "Only Carly, because I liked her since I was three..."

ok, now back to the original story....

"I went to the front door, unlocked it, and everybody came in." The babysitter said, "You are my hero Joshua", and we started playing again...

"Did she give you any special treat for being so brave," I asked.

Josh's response: "Noooooooooooo !!!!!, that's it. I'm trying to watch Duck Dodgers now, can we please be done?"

And with that, we are apparently concluding, "How Joshua saves the Day!"

We did buy a celebratory pack of watermelon gum at W$lm$rt last night for the "Hero."

He even shared a piece with me.

Too Much Time on Their Hands

2009-01-04T14:49:00.009-06:00

Wow! Its hard to believe I haven't been on this blog -o-mine for over a month. So I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and is having a Happy New Year so far. I usually don't make New Years resolutions, but one of my "goals" this year is to be a better and more frequent blogger.Maybe, by putting that out here publicly, you all can hold me accountable to it. Of course, there may not be anyone still reading this. :)

Anyway,I just have a few pix to share:

Here's our Christmas picture from 08'

We decided to wear coats instead of having to go through the pain and suffering of listening to the kids whine about having to dress up, and Missy decided to have the guys wear matching red scarves and the girls to wear white ones. We had to go purchase the red scarves and ended up spending what I thought was a crazy amount on 3 scarves. However, it was better than having to purchase everyone new sweaters. I justified the amount by thinking the kids could wear their scarves all Winter ......right?........Well, here's my 2 oldest children's ideas of wearing the scarves. --not quite what their mother or myself had in mind.

I hereby present to you 101 WAYS TO WEAR YOUR WINTER SCARVES.....

I think it's a good thing they are heading back to school tomorrow!

NEWS ALERT!!

2008-11-27T06:32:00.004-06:00

My early morning quiet time has just been interupted by the repeating sounds of gunfire. I think there is a war going on. It seems to be coming from behind our house in the woods. Hopefully, far, far back in the woods. Maybe I should move away from the three windows that I'm sitting in front of while typing . It sounds to me like this hunter is a really bad shot, by the multitude of rounds being fired, or possibly someone has equipped the deer with their own guns to fire back! That would make things more interesting huh?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Faces of a Birthday Party

2008-11-16T18:19:00.020-06:00

Joshua turned 7 yrs old a few weeks ago. Being the "always ready for a party"boy that he is- we had to narrow his original guest list down from about 30 kids to a more manageable number. :)

Here are some pictures from the party. Highlights were a game called "Mr. Fox"," Red Light..Green Light" and the always popular pinata bashing! What kid doesn't like trying to beat the tar out of something while blindfolded for a prize of CANDY! You would have never guessed that Halloween was the day before. Here is the group picture from the day and right below it is one from 2 yrs ago. Man, they sure grow up fast!! Below the group shots are just some candid shots I took during the chaos--I mean during the games and fun...

OH MY CRAP!

2008-11-05T19:57:00.006-06:00

Just last week while I was driving home from work, I happened to pass one of those big septic tank trucks. You know the ones with the humongous tanks on the back and the giant hose wrapped around it 50 or 60 times. They always have the funny sayings like, "You dump it, We pump it"or something like that. Are you with me so far?

Well anyhoo, that got me to thinking about, the art of cleaning out said septic systems. My first and foremost thought was "I wonder what they do with all that shi....take', once the tank gets full, and they have to empty it. Do they take it to a city's sewage treatment plant and somehow dump it in there? Do they go out and secretly shoot it all over some poor farmer's fields. I can tell you right now that, I think thats probably what really happens to it. Have you ever been driving out on Interstate 70 or on Route 40 sometimes and smell some of those smells coming from the fields ? Holy Crap-does that ever stink.

Or I really hope that they don't go dumping it in the river or any streams.
Kinda makes me wonder about the river though, when you are entering TH on 70.

It also brought back a childhood memory that I had totally forgotten about. My Dad use to work for the city, and at one time, was in charge of the sewage treatment facilities- you know the place where all the peoples waste goes who have city sewage, instead of septic tanks.

Well every other weekend, he would have to go to the these sewage plants, and check them to make sure things were "flowing" as they should be. Sometimes as a "special treat" he would take my sister and me with him. Of course being kids we thought this was awesome! They were like huge tanks, buried in the ground, open on top, so you could see down into them. They were full of what looked like creamy hot CHOCOLATE-only you knew thats not what it was ,by the odiferous scent! The really cool thing was, they had a 3 foot wide walkway, to walk across the churning abyss. They had metal rails on the walkway, so of course my Dad, the cool guy that he was, would let us walk across them. He was right there though, to make sure we didn't fall in.

I can still remember the butterflies I would have when we walked across, thinking that we were goners if we slipped and fell. Great family fun times together!!

OK, I got off track there-fast forward to earlier this week-there's a note on our front door from a guy from Rex Vault Co. They put our septic system in when we built our house. He comes twice a year to add chlorine to our septic system and checks it to make sure it is working properly.He always leaves a note that says what he did and tells us if all systems are go. My favorite part is at the end he tells us what he sees. How cool huh.

For the past 6 years it has said "a few solids", "some solids", "lots of solids", but this time it said
TANK IS FULL -NEEDS PUMPED!

This set my mind into motion, of the above mentioned trucks and questions like, How long should we wait to have this done?, if not soon, are we going to come home to a "full house"?
"Which company should I call?" -the ones with the coolest slogans on their trucks?

So I got in the phone book, and found someone to come pump the poo!
They were suppose to come today, but of course never showed up. This really offended me,
"Did they not want my poo?" "Is my poop not good enough for them?" " Oh well", I thought, "maybe they will come tomorrow."

I had went into church about 5:50 pm this evening, when I got a phone call from Maren.
"Dad--you need to come home, the guys are here to suck out the crap!" she exclaimed while snickering. "OK, I'll be right there!, I said, suddenly feeling so much better knowing that they did want MY poo. I drove home in a hurry to find the GIANT Septic tank truck sitting in my front yard. I hurriedly showed them where our beloved tank was, and they started unwinding the mile long hose-well it wasn't quite that long-or they wouldn't had to park in my yard, and leave giant ruts in my yard.

It was dark by now, and it looked like, from what I could tell they were fastening something around the hose to hook it to the ground. I thought to myself "Is there going to be so much suction power running through that hose that it is going to flop around?" Awesome.

Now was my chance to ask my questions, that had been burning in my mind.. "I started with, "How much does that tank hold?" "Two thousand gallons",was his reply. I quickly followed it with,"So what do you do when it is full?" "We dump it." "Well, I KNEW that", I thought to myself. "Where?" At this time the guy in charge, came up and started giving directions to the guy I was talking to and the conversation was dropped. DARN!

Anyway, they finally succeeded in getting the covers off our tank and got the hose stuck into the hole. It was at this point, that I can tell you it got really UGLY! It required the garden hose with running water and a shovel at this point to be able get our tank sparkling clean. You have to know that I can honestly say, we will never tell you or act like our s#*t doesn't stink because IT DOES PEOPLE!!
I felt kind of bad at this point, and actually thought about apologizing to him for the smell. "I'm sorry sir, I know I shouldn't have eaten all that Mexican food for the last 6 years, but it just tasted sooooo good to me!" Then I got a grip and realized he's probably used to it.

At one point, during this period of cleansing, the boss guy was bent over the hose which was laying in the grass about 10 feet away from me ,and the poor guy (who had his head in our sewage tank sucking out the gunk.) I graciously held the flash light for him so he could see what he was doing. It was the least I could do.

He asked his boss, "Is that part springing a leak where the hose is coupled together. " All of a sudden, I had a flashback to the scene from the movie RV, where they went to empty the septic tank on the RV. Remember that one? I thought about running for my life at that time, but needless to say, the hose held up and the job was completed.

Josh and Maren even came out to watch the festivities a few times. But Josh has a sensitive nose, and didn't want to stay around for long.

Oh well, it just another fun evening at the Milbourn's, and by the way I never did get the chance to ask again where they dump their tanks.

The question which started this little adventure still remains a MYSTERY!

One thing I did learn is that the toilet paper we use-really does live up to it's packaging claim-that it is safe for septic systems and is biodegradable With the boatload of toilet paper, this family of 5 buys, I was half expecting to be swallowed up by a giant toilet paper man, when they uncovered the tank. But there was not a square to be found! That sure takes a big burden off my mind.

THE END!

Compassion in the DR

2008-11-02T20:02:00.007-06:00

Hey everyone, They are doing it again! Compassion International has once again, loaded up a group of bloggers, and headed out to another country. This time they are in the Dominican Republic for 5 days.

This is what Compassion is saying about the trip....

"Known for its resort-speckled beaches, there's another side to this Carribean nation unknown to most vacationers. Our bloggers will visit a city dump where families scavenge for food and clothing. They'll tour a neighborhood where drugs are trafficked and children live beside open sewers. The bloggers will see first-hand how Compassion International and child sponsors are bringing HOPE to children living in these places by releasing them from poverty in Jesus' name.

I encourage you to follow along this week by clicking on the Dominican Republic button in my sidebar or you can check it out here. I pray that as you read along, you would truly see how blessed we are and that your heart might be moved to sponsor a child. It will truly change the life of the child, and yours as well. Since reading the blogs from Uganda earlier this year, and sponsoring our own child, it certainly has worked on mine! More on that soon!

Picture of the Day

2008-10-16T18:34:00.003-06:00

As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. Genesis 8:22

Blog Action Day 08'

2008-10-15T19:57:00.005-06:00

Today is Blog Action Day....In case you are wandering what that is, allow me to fill you in.

It is an annual online effort to get as many people as possible talking about one crucial issue in hopes of inspiring an action and bringing about change. Last year it centered around the environment and this year poverty is the big issue that people will discuss.

The last time I checked, over 12,000 bloggers have registered to participate. It is estimated that over 9 million people will read the posts.

I can probably safely say, that if you have an internet connection, and can read this blog, then you, like me, also have electricity, a home to stay in, food, clothing, etc.(all the modern day comforts) -then we are probably not too much affected by poverty.

However, there are millions of people who go to sleep every night hungry, who do not know where their next morsel of food will come from, or if it will even be the next day, let alone a solid roof over their head, or clothing.

I recently read a comment, in a letter from Compassion International, that said this:

EVERY THREE SECONDS POVERTY KILLS A CHILD- EVERY THREE SECONDS!!

That statistic blows my mind!! Especially when I hear things like one of our presidential candidates, this past week spent tens of thousands of dollars in a weeks time in just one television market in one city. Think of how many people that money could feed in a third world country.

For $32 dollars a month, through Compassion, you can provide a child,not only food, but a Christ centered, ministry, that teaches the children about having a personal relationship with Jesus, and what a change He can bring into their lives.

If you are interested in making a difference in the life of a poverty stricken child, whether that be to learn more about the ministry of Compassion , or if you are ready to sponsor a child,I urge you to click here.

You won't be dissapointed.

A Day in the Life of a Mexican Resort Iguana

2008-10-03T22:35:00.011-06:00

We had a surprise when we spent our first day on the resort here in Mazatlan, Mexico.

We were greeted by IGUANAS, of all colors and sizes!

They are EVERYWHERE. I have found that even though they are reptiles, they don't bother me nearly as bad as snakes. I have not had to beat any to death yet with a bar bell! :) I usually just sit and stare at them in amazement , feeling like we have signed up for a week at Jurassic Park.

So after observing them , I thought I'd give you all an idea of a typical day in the life of a Mexican Resort Iguana.....

At least one that I've seen, started off his morning , by climbing to the highest point he could find and spent a little quiet time, worshiping , his Creator...... If you look closely you can see an iguana sitting on top of the building. Yes, climbing is not a problem for them.

After morning quiet time, they head on over to the poolside outdoor restaurant, which by the way, is named after them. It didn't take us long to figure out why it is their namesake.

While they are waiting on food, they try to blend in with the rest of the vacationers.

This ones favorite pastime was sunbathing, by the pool, ON A CHAIR. "Excuse me sir, Is this chair beside you taken?"

Once lunch is served, some "kind"people like this one, feed the iguanas. In case you are wandering ,Travis still has all his fingers! Iguanas do have razor sharp teeth, but they take the food out of your hands as gently as when feeding a dog. They like eating things like lettuce, french fries and tomatoes as seen below.....

But one of their all time favorites, is bread. Every day, at about 3pm, a older gentleman named Earl comes, walking to the grassy area, behind the pool, with a clear plastic bag of Bread. It is quite a sight. As he comes across the grass, the iguanas start coming from everywhere, shrubs, trees, etc. He is like the Pied Piper of iguanas. He always gets a small plastic table from poolside, to sit on, and proceeds to feed the "herd". He breaks the bread sharing it with all the iguanas and any birds that might come into the area.

Not only does Earl feed the iguanas, he actually pets them and rubs /pats them like they were a dog or cat. And you can tell, when watching them, that they LOVE it. If they have any loose skin, being shed from the spiny things on their back, he pulls them off as well. The iguanas sit perfectly still as Earl shows them his affection. Earl told us he has been doing this for quite awhile. He has a video on You Tube, from 2 years ago, in which he is feeding 17 Iguanas , all gathered around him. You can search for Earl the Iguana Man, on You Tube, if you are interested in viewing.

After their feeding and massages, they go back to normal iguana mischief.

Here one is,trying to decide what she would look like in Gretchen's sarong-wrap-thing, that was hanging on the back of her chair. "Do you think I would look good in pink?"

They also like to suprise people by sneaking up between them and eavesdropping on their conversations. I can only imagine the stories they could tell if they could talk!

Actually they are very well behaved, and do not bother people or steal things or anything. Once you get used to the initial shock that they live here and are pretty much everywhere, it is not really that big of a deal. As long as the ground does not start shaking....from an approaching T-REX, I'm cool with our new found friends.

Will's Excellent Adventure

2008-09-04T19:19:00.011-06:00

Tonight, when we got home from work, we were greeted by our oldest son smiling from ear to ear. This was quite strange since he typically doesn't even acknowledge our presence when we walk in the door.

"What's that you're waving in your hand son?" "WHAT?? Your DRIVER'S PERMIT?!? For crying out loud, you haven't even been in driver's ed for two weeks yet!" YIKES!!!

So, we all emptied our bladders (to avoid any accidents due to extreme fear) and we piled in the family mini van to go on Will Milbourn's maiden voyage. Well, actually, we've let him drive before, but only in the cemetary. We figured he couldn't hurt anyone there :-). But this was the first REAL trip. The first time he'd driven on a real highway. With real cars coming at us. With live people in them. With steep ditches on the sides of the road. In the rain.

"How do I turn on the windshield wipers?"

"Wow!" "The turn signal goes off by itself?"

I was freaking out because he was taking the corners too fast. Missy was about to have a cow because he was so close to the edge of the road. Good thing we took that potty break :-)

All in all, he did very well. We are super excited! And celebrating this new journey with him!

It is now 9:09pm, Will just came up from the basement where he was doing his homework.

The first words out of his mouth "Do you want to go for a ride through town?" Do you? DO YOU?? Can we take the Honda this time?(which he will be driving when he gets his license)

Do the turn signals turn off by themselves in that car too?

I think its going to be a looooonnnnng year, until he turns 16.....

OOPS!!!

2008-08-23T19:20:00.010-06:00

Adorable wife who loves to weed eat! Freaky Huh?
Gotta lover her!!

+

New battery powered-cordless weed eater she just couldn't wait to get her hands on...

Honey, could you come here for a sec.....

I think we have a tiny PROBLEM!!!

PS: The really cool thing about this is thankfully, we don't have to "break" out the plywood while we are waiting to get this fixed. The window is a double-paned window and whatever it was that hit it, only broke the glass on the outside. The inside glass is still intact. Awesome huh!! That took some skills. Lovey-YOU ROCK!!--well maybe.....get it? I crack myself up. :)

PPS: Missy approved this, before being posted, so you can all quit thinking how much trouble I have gotten myself into...

I've had unfortunate household events too, that I can look back on and laugh at as well.

Hers, she had no control over, mine was due to stupidity-MY OWN...one that comes to mind was the time i tried to back out of the garage, with my driver's door open. It doesn't work well let me tell you! The door tends not to want to shut after you ram it into a stack of bricks, which happened to be sitting in the middle of the garage. It was a rather "breezy" ride to work that morning. Oh well, just another exciting day at the Milbourn house.

ISN'T IT NIFTY-SHE'S TURNED 50......+ 12

2008-08-12T18:00:00.001-06:00

If you see my Mom today be sure to wish her a Happy 62nd Birthday! WOW, she is now eligible for medicare, AARP, and can continue getting those awesome Senior Discounts!!

Here's some pictures of her through the years....

P.S.-- Bet you're happy Mom, you've been giving me these pictures of you, when you were younger. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! LOVE YA!!

Denny, Missy, Will, Maren and Joshua

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILL

2008-08-05T22:50:00.001-06:00

Today is Will's 15TH BIRTHDAY!!!!

Wow, that is hard to believe. He will be starting high school later this month, and will be taking drivers ed, in his first semester back to school. That does not seem possible. It seems like only yesterday he was driving his little plastic flinstone mobile around the front yard. But, I have been letting him practice driving for quite a while now-in secret locations-mind you-that can't be disclosed-and I must admit he is a pretty good driver.
He takes after me of course.. :)

Anyway, in typical Milbourn birthday fashion, we have been celebrating all week. Sunday evening, we had a cookout/birthday party for family.

Last night we celebrated with an awesome peanut butter pie, courtesy of Reba Jr. She makes one mean pie....Delicious!

Tonight, since it's his actual birthday today, he got to pick where he wanted to go to for dinner. He chose Tumbleweed, and had a nice big juicy steak.

I'm not sure what is in store for the rest of Will-o-mania, but I'm sure it will be fun.

And since none of my posts would be complete without a picture or 2 or 10-here's some of Will over the years.

Isn't She Lovely....

2008-07-25T20:03:00.001-06:00

In case you scrolled down and looked at the pictures first—NO, Maren is NOT getting MARRIED!! At least ,not for the next 50 years or so, if her mother and I have anything to say about it. :)
About a year ago, Maren was asked to be in a wedding, for one of her 2nd or 3rd cousins. I’m not sure what her assignment was in the wedding, but I think it was a junior bridesmaid or something like that…. I don’t know a lot about weddings, but I’m thinking she was a little too old and tall to be the flower girl.

Anyway, the wedding was scheduled for May,2008.

Insert Maren and Missy's point of view:"What a wedding? Oh we--I mean she would love to be in the wedding! "Where are you trying on the dresses at"? "Uhuh uhuh ok we will be right there. "

Insert the sound of car doors slamming and the burning of rubber in the driveway as they head to the Midwest Bridal Dress Emporium.

It seemed as if one minute her cousin asked her by phone to be in the festivities and in the blink of an eye the dress was altered and purchased.

Father's point of view: The wedding was almost a year away. I was thinking, why the rush to buy this dress. It wasn’t cheap! Shouldn’t we be waiting until a little closer to the wedding-like a week or two before? What's the hurry people?

Well guess what??

Did you ever see the chick flick- 27 Dresses?-I think it was about a girl who was a “professional bridesmaid” and had been in a zillion weddings-well 27 to be exact- and kept all the dresses in her closet. Well er-I didn’t see it either! Maybe… :)

Where was I going with this, Oh Yeah-- the wedding was CALLED OFF!

Now we, were stuck—I mean blessed with a dress, and Maren already at age 11 has her 1st –"never worn," instead of "briefly worn" bridesmaid dress to hang in her OWN closet .

So my daughter, who never misses a chance to dress up, and me, who never likes to miss an opportunity to indulge in my favorite hobby, decided we should have ourselves a little “photo shoot”. Might as well, get some use out of the dress, that was never formally worn, before she outgrows it completely.

So a while back, we did just that, and here’s a look at a some of the shots that were taken.

And finally this picture..."She" went screaming by while taking pictures, and I had to get one of her too!

Summertime Fun!

2008-07-20T05:20:00.003-06:00

Here's some pix from yesterday, hanging out around the pool, with my sister and her family.

"Scuba Tom"

"Cousins"

All too soon, it was time to go home, which never makes

Hannah happy. She cries everytime. :)

Picture of the Day

2008-07-07T20:25:00.002-06:00

I took this on my way to work this morning--God was putting on a SPECTACULAR light show!
I had actually pulled the car over to try to get a few pictures- but whichever way I had the camera pointed -the lightning flashed in the opposite direction. So I ran out of time and had to head to work. This picture I actually got while driving on the interstate. I just held the camera up , pointed out the driver side window, and waited for the big flash of light in the sky and this is what I got. How cool is that?

Serpent City, USA

2008-06-28T18:48:00.003-06:00

Yesterday morning started out as any other work-day morning. I got up at 4:30 IL time to be ready to leave by 5:30am. No one else in the house was up yet. After I fixed myself a cup of coffee, I remembered that I need to put the garden hose in the pool, to add more water. It was low enough that it almost wasn't flowing into the skimmer.

No big deal, I thought, I get ready in the basement bathroom, I'll just go outside the door down there, we have a walk-out basement,-just in case you are trying to figure out how I'm going out a door in the basement. Anyway, I turn on the porchlight, still kinda dark out, and slide open the door. I quickly shut the door, don't want the "sweetness" to get outside, thats Mo our dog, who thinks she is my best friend in the mornings and follows me everywhere. Actually I hate her, but thats another post for another time.

I quickly (mind you I am still in only my undewear-remember its still dark!) put the hose in the pool and go back and turn on the water faucet, and head back inside.

After stepping over the threshold, I look down as I slide the door shut, and there lying, laying, or whatever the proper english term, on the threshold of the door, is a SNAKE. Mind you, it was only about a foot and a half long, but it might as well have been Four feet long at 4:30 am.

I don't think I have mentioned it yet, but I HATE SNAKES!! If I had been in the Garden of Eden and the snake/serpent had been trying to coax me into eating from the tree of the knowlege of good and evil, that conversation wouldn't have happened! I would have been a mile away when I encountered the snake.

Anyway, the first thing I remember was letting out what I am sure was an inhuman "girly"sounding scream, then I remember yelling "Get out, don't come in!", which of course caused the snake to immediately start slithering off the threshold and slide inside the door.

It was at that point, I remembered my mantra, about snakes--if I EVER have one get in the house that I can't find, WE ARE MOVING OUT! I was already calling U-Haul in my mind. The vision of me waking up with a snake curled up beside me in bed, also went quickly through my mind. Funny how many thoughts can fly through your head in a matter of milli-seconds.

After yelling a few OH SHOOTS! or some word similar to that :), it was all kind of a blur as I look back on it now, I decided some quick action must be taken.

That's when I saw this interesting apparatus lying to the right of the door:

OH YEAH!! I was finally gonna get some use out of these 10 pound paper weights!

So I quickly grabbed it. The snake was miraculously, still lying beside the inside frame of the door, whipping its tail around. When I picked up the weight, it instantly started opening its mouth wide and hissing at me, like it knew its time was running out. It had chosen the wrong MAN to mess with!! Funny how when you have a weapon in your hand, you get a whole new perspective on life.

Anyway, I precariously, held the weight by one end, in order to keep my hand as far away as possible from the snake, and quickly smashed the other end into the snake, about an inch or two, behind his head, pinning him up against the door frame. This caused him to hiss even louder, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood at full attention!

I quickly, let off the pressure and rammed him again and again. This was where it got a little messy, I'll just save you the gory details, but I just let the weight lay up against him for a while. I had to go and find something quickly to pick it up. I found a piece of cardboard, and even though the end of it was still twitching, I pulled the weight back, slid the cardboard under, and flipped him out onto the patio. After a quick, all over "heebee jeebee" body convulsion, I grabbed some cleaner and paper towels to clean the blood off the floor and the weight, and then it was back to getting ready for work as usual. Of course, then the dog comes back in the room. She must have been hiding. Can you imagine--What a chicken -afraid of a little snake.

Oh by the way, here's a picture of my "friend"AFTER he was resting on the patio.

And one more thing, I'm not sure what's going on around here,but this morning Missy, was in the basement, hooking up her sound system, when I heard a shriek, and her yell -"There is a LIZARD in here! Sure enough there was one, hiding against the base that our furnace sits on.

By now, I'm becoming good at finding things quickly, to take care of reptiles. This time, my weapon of choice, was alot less destructive. I used an empty VCR tape box, and trapped it. I did let it loose, by flinging it far away from our house into the woods. Little lizards, do not strike fear in me as snakes do, although this didn't look like the ordinary color striped lizards that run around outside, this one looked like it was all dark gray--kinda like a MUTANT SNAKE WITH LITTLE LEGS.

PS. We also have a mouse upstairs, that refuses to be caught with a trap. He likes to come out in the evenings and enjoys quiet time with Missy in the early morning hours. He runs like a lunatic back and forth, through our living room into our family room. We have become so accustomed to his antics, that we" affectionately" call him Stuart.

So anyone want to come over for a party? uh Michelle-you still out there?

If anyone was thinking about a trip to the zoo--don't waste your time in the reptile/rodent building. COME ON OVER. We are creating our own, right here at the Milbourn's!!

Releasing Children From Poverty in Jesus' Name

2008-06-24T20:08:00.006-06:00

Earlier this year, while reading two of my favorite blogs Shlog and Rocks In My Dryer,-yes I admit it , I'm a guy and I love reading Rocks in My Dryer. :) I learned more about an awesome organization, Compassion International. I had heard of them before and how they helped feed starving children in the world.

Compassion was about to embark on taking a group of bloggers , from around the US, on a mission trip to Uganda , to “live”blog on the conditions while they were there. Some of you may remember me blogging about it in February. Anyway, since that time, God has really continued placing this organization, and these children on my heart. Our family has sponsored a child from Uganda and I have recently signed on to blog monthly on behalf of Compassion International.

The blogging part is exciting for me, because since February,it has been my continual prayer, that God would somehow "use me” in whatever way-big or small-to help these children.

Compassion’s slogan is “Releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name”, and it is my hope and prayer now that God would use my blogging, to help reach these suffering kids, who are in such great need of basic things that you and I take for granted.

THE #1 NEED IS FOOD!

Currently we are in a Global Food Crisis, the World Food Programme, has called it a “silent tsunami”. This is affecting every family in every nation. Food prices for popular items like rice, wheat and beans have DOUBLED in last year. Though these prices have affected all budgets, it’s the poor who bear the brunt of the inflation. These higher prices are forcing people who normally survive on $1 per day, to spend approximately 80% of their budgets just on food.

As a result, many people, including millions of children, are going hungry. The higher the prices go, the more people will be plunged into poverty. In Bangladesh 95% of the 11,782 children Compassion serves are affected. Many are eating only at the church based center. In Haiti, inflation rates have risen by 40%, pushing up food prices as well. All 60,000 children, served by Compassion in Haiti, have been affected as well.

What is causing the crisis, you might be asking?
· Rising fuel costs-of course!
· Rising food demand from populous nations like India and China
· Natural disasters destroying crop yields, all over the world

HOW WE CAN HELP
Compassion International has launched the Global Food Crisis Fund to bring aid to those who are most adversely affected by the rising food costs. More information is available and donations can be made at
https://www.compassion.com/contribution/giving/global-food-crisis.htm

Donations to the fund will provide:
· Food vouchers to children
· Seed and Agricultural tools so that families can grow their own food as well as earn extra income
· Supplemental nutrition services offered at Compassion-assisted centers around the world.

Compassion International has set aside WEDNESDAY JUNE 25TH as a day of fasting and prayer to honor the victims of the global food crisis and to pray for them.

OTHER AVAILABLE RESOURCES:
http://blog.compassion.com/a-day-of-fasting-and-prayer
http://blog.compassion.com/the-silent-tsunami/
http://www.mnnonline.org/article/11277
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080601/32614CompassionInternationalPreparesForWorldFoodCrisis.htm
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/compassion.prepares.for.world.food.crisis/19191.htm

1987 WAS A GREAT YEAR..........

2008-05-09T20:05:00.004-06:00

Average Income per year $24,350.00

Average Monthly Rent $395.00

Average Price for new car $10,3055.00

1 gallon of gas 89 cents

1 LB of Bacon $1.80

US Postage Stamp 24 cents

Dozen Eggs 65 cents

Popular Films
Three Men and a Baby
Fatal Attraction
Beverly Hills Cop II
Good Morning, Vietnam
The Untouchables
Stakeout
Lethal Weapon
The Witches of Eastwick
The Last Emperor
Wall Street
Dirty Dancing
RoboCop
Moonstruck

Popular Musicians
Michael Jackson with " BAD "
Lionel Richie
Fleetwood Mac
Peter Gabriel
Janet Jackson
Heart
Whitney Houston
Bruce Hornsby and " the Range "
George Michael with " Faith "
Bryan Adams
Bananarama
Aretha Franklin
George Michael
U2 with " With or Without You "

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY.....

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY LOVEY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAREN!!

2008-05-04T20:34:00.001-06:00

Where does time go?
Today our baby girl turned 11 years old!!

It seems like only yesterday she looked like this.....

And here's a couple of pictures from Friday's field trip to the zoo, and her birthday party yesterday.....

Time goes by way to fast...

Happy Birthday to my "Young Lady" who is still and will ALWAYS be "My Little Girl"

Love you Maren

Dad

Easter 2008

2008-03-24T18:26:00.009-06:00

Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend!

I had a four day weekend, which went by way too FAST. Where does the time go? Days never go by so quickly, when we are at work. :)

Here are some pix from the weekend.

Maren and Josh colored some eggs on Saturday. Will,as I've said in previous posts, is at the age where he can't be photographed doing anything so immature.

But he did come in however, to have his picture taken with his sister and brother.

Joshua being goofy....

My 2 favorite girls........

Saturday evening we had a "Marathon Band Practice" at church, in preparation for the Renee Swope -Proverbs 31 event this coming weekend in Robinson.

Sunday morning, everyone was up early, preparing for church, and searching for their baskets.

I did find out Sunday morning that a phrase that we use to use as kids has taken on a new meaning for our kids. While Maren was searching for her basket, she was very close to where it was hidden. I told her she was hot-meaning close to the basket, however she immediately answered me with...."Well, thank you Daddy!" I had to explain that that was NOT what I meant. :)

Will wasn't too old though ,to still find his Easter Basket, when clothing and candy are involved.

We then were off to church- in case you missed it you can click here and then click on the podcast icon to hear the Easter sermon. After church we were back home and enjoyed a feast complete with ham and all the trimmings, thanks to the Mr. Crock Pot family of 3.

After lunch-a quick family picture, since we were all dressed up....

and then naps for Mom & Dad and then an easter egg hunt,in the snow....

Finally the evening was topped off with a trip to TH to see the movie College Road Trip, which turned out to be a good, clean family movie --which showed the hilarious extremes a father would go to , in order to protect his daughter, who was about to head off to college.

Well, thats a wrap!! Hope you have a great week!

Photos of the Day

2008-03-17T18:18:00.010-06:00

OK! I'll admit it, I am a sky/weather freak. Has anyone seen the tv shows where the crazies go to Oklahoma and Kansas in the Spring to chase storms. I would love to do that sometime, and live to tell about it. I would really like to catch a picture of a tornado--from a long, long distance with a telephoto lens of course!

Anyway--I don't know if anyone got a chance to see the sky this afternoon between 4:3o -5:00pm or not, but it was AWESOME!! It seems God provides some of the most breath-taking skies-when I am on my way to work, or on my way home. Many times, I am either in a hurry to get to work and don't have time to pull over and take a picture, or I don't have my camera with me. But tonight as I was coming home I had the time and the camera in hand and took some shots. I thought the sky looked more awesome to the eye, than what came through the lens, but here they are anyway--- take a gander.

Chalking & Tipping

2008-03-13T19:26:00.012-06:00

Hasn't the weather been awesome the past few days? I am READY for Spring. It cracks me up how we never see our neighbors during the Winter months-but as soon as the weather gets warm everyone is outside. Yesterday Will, Joshua and cousin Michael had there annual Spring Tractor Tipping Extravaganza. This event takes place in our front yard as Joshua rides his battery powered J Deere around the front yard-like a maniac, while Will and Michael throw any kind of ball that they can get their hands on at him. We do draw the line at baseballs, and softballs by the way. You would think Josh wouldn't be up for this, since he is the target, but he is usually laughing hysterically. If they miss, Joshua likes to run over the balls, which if they are large enough, usually end up tipping the front end of his tractor into the air, and at times flipping him on over backwards. Lots of fun and so far no cracked skulls!! It's even more fun if he can get the tractor down off the ball and keep going.

Josh on the run....

Maren, and cousin Hannah held a little less violent event in our driveway, we deemed the first "Chalkfest" of the year. It wasn't long before everyone joined in the fun on the driveway.

Michael -hamming it up.....

Drawing with chalk can make you strike silly poses....

Maren and her artwork....

An impromptu race.....Best Buddies.......Until............................She takes off with his wheels!!!

And finally.... you're never to old to join in at Chalkfest, Even Will or is that Huck Finn, with the curly hair and pants rolled up got in on the fun--just don't let him know that I snapped this picture. :) or I might be in big trouble--even though he's taller than me now, I can still take him!!

LOVEY-ALL'S I'M SAYIN IS........

2008-03-12T20:29:00.006-06:00

We've almost been married for 21 years now, and I have NEVER told you how to wear your hair, but.............I think it is time now........Please go get a HAIRCUT!!!!!

Now Where Did I Put My Engine???

2008-02-28T20:09:00.006-06:00

Now in my 21 years or so of driving to work in Terre Haute, I have come across several car parts in the road. I've seen mufflers, hubcaps, a large piece of metal , which, by the way, was hurled at my vehicle at 65mph by a semi-thereby puncturing my gas tank. Thanks to my fellow blogger Sprigglet , who was kind enough to pick me up, from the side of I-70 after THAT little incident. Sorry, I digress..... anyway--But NEVER have I come across an entire engine lying in the road. That's just what I saw this morning, lying in the Southbound lane of US 41. How would you like to not be paying close attention and run into that on your morning commute? I think that would send your coffee flying...By the time I came upon it, the police had the lane blocked off. I thought it was worth a picture anyway. That's was the most exciting part of my day!! How bout' you all?? Anything interesting to report?

Having Compassion

2008-02-09T21:59:00.000-06:00

I would like to introduce you to Felix. He is from Uganda. Our family just recently sponsored him through Compassion International. We had talked about sponsoring a child in the past, but I am ashamed to say, it was one of those things that we never got around to doing-kinda forgot about. But recently, it has been put on my heart again, through some of the blogs I read almost daily, such as Shaun Groves, Shannon-Rocks In My Dryer, Sophie-Boo Mama, and Brian Seay-Artist Relations Manager for Compassion International. These are a few of the 15 Christian Bloggers, who Compassion has asked to head to Uganda with them, and blog daily while there, to show the world how Compassion, through people just like you and me, can rescue children from poverty in Jesus name.

I have added a "widget" in my side bar, that when you click on the "read"button will automatically bring up the list of bloggers. Then by clicking on the name,it will take you to that person's blog and you can read what they have to say daily about their experience, while in Uganda. If you click on the share button it gives you a place to select your own blog provider, and then by typing some info, it will automatically copy it on your blog...to help spread the word about Compassion in Uganda...Cool Huh!

Our family has decided to give up eating out a meal per month, to help support Felix. It's $32 a month, to sponsor a child. If you know us , you know we eat out too much anyway, and with the 5 of us, it usually costs at least that much, if its a decent restaurant.

Compassion's slogan is "Releasing Children from poverty in Jesus' name." I think Shaun Groves summed it up well on his blog when he said he thought they should add "Releasing Americans from wealth in Jesus' name", by gently and lovingly prying the hands of the wealthy off "stuff "we have labeled "mine"and using it to care for the poorest of poor in the name of God, to which everyone and everything belongs anyway". Isn't that so true? We take so many things for granted-and act like we can't survive without them ,while these kids, don't even have basic necessities they need.

If you are interested in sponsoring a child you can go here. The process is easy, and it only takes a few minutes to do. There are over 2000 kids waiting.

If you already sponsor a child, I would love to hear about them and how they have blessed you.

A UFO HAS LANDED!

2008-02-06T07:13:00.001-06:00

Well so much for all the hard work last Spring putting THAT together!!!

It has withstood many howling wind storms since then and never budged an inch, but I guess last night's was a little too much for her.

May she rest in peace!!

"Twins" ....Well Almost....

2008-01-31T20:38:00.000-06:00

Tonight, Missy and I have been watching the latest debate between Hillary and Barack.

From the very first time I watched Barack on television, he has reminded me of my friend Travis. I know, now you are thinking I'm NUTS. Travis is white, Barack is black. --But Travis usually has a tan, and Barack is fairly light skinned. The mannerisms between the two, if you watch them for any length of time, are very similar as well. Come with me now , as we make other comparisons of the two.........

My friend Travis likes the beach....

Barack likes the beach too!!!

My friend Travis with his friends...

Barack with his wife and friend...

Travis thinks he's the karate kid....

Barack thinks he is Superman.....

So there you have it. I've presented the evidence now you can decide for yourselves.

P.S. After looking at so many pictures of Barack and his family, I am now thinking that Barack's wife looks a little like Jessie-Trav's sister. Check out the picture below and the one above.

Can't you all just see Jessie here with a really dark tan?? Darn, I don't have any pictures of Jessie to do a side by side comparison!! Probably, a good thing for me, huh..

Well, that's all I got for tonight.

Adios!!

Into the Ear Zone

2008-01-28T19:28:00.000-06:00

Disclaimer before reading: Remember I told you I wanted to try to update my blog more. I didn't necessarily mean that it would be worth reading--but in the infamous words of the pioneer woman -I just wanted to "keep it real".

For the past week or so, I have had sinus problems--drainage, scratchy throat, coughing etc. you know --all that fun stuff that is awesome to blog about. It doesn't seem to want to go away. Yesterday I was discussing this with my good friend, the "voodoo nutjob" who told me about a treatment using hydrogen peroxide. You can read all about it here: http://klay-slay.blogspot.com/ . I am always open to any alternatives that don't require pharmaceutical meds so tonight after supper, I decided to give it a try.

I have never tried pouring anything into my ears before, so I decided I might need some help.
I enlisted Will, to help me. He, being 14 yrs. old. and having nothing better to do jumped at the chance. So after retrieving the peroxide, we proceeded to the kitchen counter, where I layed my head down for the treatment. Oh, by the way, after discovering that we didn't own an eye or "ear" dropper, we quickly improvised by using a straw to pick up the liquid by placing your finger over the one end to keep the liquid in the straw....WARNING..... Do not try to suck the hydrogen peroxide up into the straw, no matter how hard you try, you will not be able to stop before you get a good old taste. Then you can run around screaming and chasing other family members, while you foam at the mouth.

By this time we were both laughing hysterically, and Will could hardly hold the straw still enough to get any peroxide in my ear. The 1st couple of times it ended up running down my face. Finally it hit the correct spot. After the initial coldness, and feeling like you have swimming pool water in your ear, the fizzing and popping began. Remember the candy we got as kids, that popped and fizzled when you put it in your mouth---same feeling only in your ears.

Warning #2 Find out BEFORE you start how long you are suppose to leave the stuff in your ear. It's kind of hard to use the phone to call your friend, or to go to her blog to read the link with the directions, with one ear flat on the counter and the other one full of peroxide. More laughter ensued at this point. We decided on about 3-5 minutes per ear in case you are wondering.

It was here that we decided we should get a picture of this. Wouldn't be complete without a picture or two to go along. This required Will to climb onto the counter and shoot down at my head from above.

Insert more laughter at this point. :)

At any rate, the experiment has been completed for about one hour. My ears if nothing else do feel cleaner, and my nose does seem to feel less stuffy. I will be sure to check back in with you all tomorrow for an update. I know that you all will be counting the minutes until then. At any rate even if it doesn't help at all, it provided this father , some good quality time with his oldest son.

Sorry, Will couldn't zoom in far enough to actually see the peroxide in my ear canal. I know that is a big dissapointment to you all. I leave you with one final comment, "When did my ears become so hairy??" I challenge you all to have someone take a picture of your ear, just so you can see what it looks like. Maybe we could have a contest and try to guess who everyone is just by looking at their ears. ;)

The Cheerleader

2008-01-26T21:10:00.000-06:00

Hey, is anyone still out there??? Where the heck does time go? It's hard to believe it has been over a month since I have been on here. I have thought about posting, but it doesn't seem like I've had anything interesting to say. I still don't, --so I am going to post some pictures. I still haven't posted Christmas pix, but don't know if its too late now or not--being a month after the holiday. Does anyone know the blogging etiquette on that?? Let me know. I'm going to try and be a better blogger--really I am.... I have even thought about having a picture of the day, just to change it up more frequently.

This past month we have been going to watch Maren cheer during the 5th grade basketball games. I have really enjoyed them. The games have been pretty exciting too. The game this past Wednesday, against Hutsonville,was a real nail-biter. The Cubs had been ahead by about 10 pts. the entire game, but the opposing team had caught up, close to the end and Marshall ended up winning by one freethrow shot at the end. Pretty Exciting for 5th grade basketball! The players and cheerleaders have been doing an excellent job.

The only problem has been at home. Maren no longer walks around the house, she hops and jumps around. She is constantly practicing cheering and doing ALL the motions that go along. I also think she has forgotten what her "inside voice" sounds like. Alot of times,when carrying on normal conversations with here we now have to tell her she is talking really LOUD !! She came home from Darla's yesterday, and was doing a cheer that Nana (Darlene) had taught her. Thanks Mom. -I didn't know they had cheerleading back in the early 1900's. :) Just kidding! :)

Anyway here are the pictures. There are a couple of Michael (Darla's son) too. He plays sixth grade basketball, and sometimes has games right after Maren's.

I Love My Friends!!!!!

2007-12-06T19:00:00.000-06:00

I was going through some pictures and found this one. It was taken last New Year's Eve. Don't we all look so happy? It must be because we had just finished eating at Richard's Farm.......

Ohhh!! Mama Mia-Homemade Pizzeria

2007-11-29T20:11:00.000-06:00

Tonight, my lovely assistant Maren, and I prepared supper.
We fixed one of our family's favorites. Homemade Pizzas!!

It is one of the few things that everyone will eat. They were delicious.

Now everyone is lounging around watching Shrek 3 for the second time in one week. We are relaxing(some more than others)-referring to Missy, who's sound asleep, on the couch. I tried to take her picture to show you all but she heard the sound the camera makes when it comes on, opened her eyes, uttered the words "very funny", and then promptly went back to sleep. I better not push my luck!

Anyway, heres a few pictures of our "masterpieces" to tempt your taste buds.

The Milbourn Elves

2007-11-25T18:58:00.000-06:00

All day today we've worked on a special Christmas dance for you. We had Will run the video camera...click here to watch it. It might take a little while to load, but trust me, it's worth the wait! Hope you enjoy!!!

Fall Fun

2007-11-18T19:10:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we did something that I have not done in years.

BURNED LEAVES!!!

It was awesome!! I know, your probably thinking it doesn't take much to keep us entertained-Your right it doesn't!!

Normally I just mow them with our tractor into a zillion little pieces and be done with it.Our kids have never even had the experience of burning them. What sheltered lives! Josh had mentioned yesterday morning something about playing in the leaves, but somehow burning them got brought up and you know what happens when the Milbourn boys here the word "fire". Will was right there with a lighter and fire starters in hand ready to go. Josh was hot on his heels looking for anything he can get his hands on to throw in as well.

We were at Shane and Kathy's last weekend and they had a campfire. Josh literally went from person to person, sitting around the fire asking non-stop "Are you done with that?"-just so he could have their paper plate, cup or whatever they were holding to throw in the fire. When cousin Michael arrived home shortly after we started, he was right there helping out as well.

Anyway it didn't take long for the leaves to be piled up, and we commenced with the fire.
Nothing like the smell of burning leaves on your clothes, and it took me back to my childhood days of raking and burning them to earn money when I lived in town. Back then, there were no laws stopping you from burning leaves, and some days I think you could have identified Marshall from a satellite map, just from the smoke that was blowing around throughout our neighborhood and town.

While we were burning leaves we also had another fire going where we cooked up a pot of ham and beans, and the day ended with Papaw and Nana(Sam and Darlene) coming out for supper. So here's some pictures from our Saturday.

Joshua-really pumped about the leaves!

Mo even enjoyed the day outside,although

we kept her on a leash--didn't want to serve any

hot dogs!

OH LOVEY, L-O-V-E-Y!!!!!!!!
I think you might want to get the hose or call 911!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOSHUA!!!!

2007-11-01T03:46:00.000-06:00

Today our baby turns 6 years old. Wow! Where does the time go??

Last night, with some of our family, we indulged in a little cake and ice cream and just spent some time celebrating Joshua!! So here's some pix of my favorite little 6 yr old.

Love ya, Buddy!!

Pix of the Day

2007-09-25T19:22:00.000-06:00

I took these on my way home from work tonight. I thought they were pretty cool!! The 2nd picture was taken from our subdivision. I'm not sure what's going on in it. It kinda looks like the clouds are vertical instead of horizontal. I was just waiting for them to start spinning and then I was heading for the basement. :)

LOUNGIN' AND GAZIN'

2007-09-20T17:27:00.000-06:00

THE HEAVENS DECLARED HIS GLORY TODAY AS I LOUNGED IN MY LAWN CHAIR GAZING UP AT THE SKY

Up....Up.... and Away!

2007-09-03T15:19:00.000-06:00

OK! OK! I'm changing my blog!!

I have found that in the past 3-4 weeks, I don't get a "Hi" or "How are you doing?" from alot of people when I see them, instead I get "YOU REALLY NEED TO CHANGE YOUR BLOG." I have even had some offer to give me ideas of things to write about. So here goes, if any of you still stop by regularly. I haven't really had any reason to not post for the last 2 months, I guess I have just been on a little blog posting -vacation. I have still been reading everyone else's blogs, I just, for some reason, haven't felt like posting. So I am sorry and I will try to do better.

Anyway, since thats taken care of , I just wanted to show you some pictures, of what we did last weekend. A month or two ago, I had seen a magazine advertisment for a Hot Air Balloon Festival in Lincoln, Illinois. I cut it out and hung it on our bulletin board thinking it would be something fun and different to take the kids too. Soooo... last Saturday, we headed out to the festival. It took about 2 hours to get to Lincoln and we had alot of fun. They had an arts festival in downtown Lincoln, in conjunction with the balloon festival, which was held at a very small airport. We didn't attend the arts portion, instead we went straight for the balloons. It was kind of like a fair with rides, and alot of food booths. There were approximately 50 balloons or so participating, and needless to say it was awesome and C O L O R F U L . I think I enjoyed it more than Missy or the kids. You could walk out among the different balloon teams while they were preparing the balloons, and baskets for take off, which also was very cool. You really forget how BIG these things are until you see people standing next to them, as they are inflating.

I will stop there, I have alot more, but I know you've seen one balloon, you've seen them all.

See ya in a couple of months! : ) Just Kidding!!!!!

The Trophy

2007-07-03T14:41:00.000-06:00

Another t-ball season has come and gone for our youngest, Joshua. Overall, I think he has shown quite an improvement over last year's games. This year he actually went out and played without me being on the field by his side continuously. The first practice was a little rough, though. I took him up to the dugout and his team was already out on the field practicing. I thought I would go out with him and get him adapted to things again, but he refused to leave the dugout. When I tried to reassure him that I was going out with him, it still did not matter. Then he burst out crying inconsolably,which he did the same thing at the start of the practices last year. I think part of it this year was he didn't know anyone on the team except for his cousin Logan. We ended up finding out when the next practice was and left. He was crying and I was mad. I had thought at that time- GREAT! another fun year of t-ball is on the way.

So after a week of coaxing, by Missy and myself, and telling him how he was going to have so much fun, we made it back to the 2nd practice. This time it was as if we had a totally different child. He took to the field immediately, without shedding a single tear I might add, and practiced like there had never been a problem the prior week.

It was amazing to us, how much Josh and his whole team had improved since last year.
This year they were pitched balls by their coaches, and only used the tee as a last resort.
Of course, they were still a lot of fun to watch. On many occasions, when the opposing team hit the balls, practically the whole fielding team would all converge upon the ball, and try to fight over it. There were also still the occasional players, Josh included, who became sidetracked easily by the alluring wide open expanse of DIRT, or the occasional bugs, birds, cars or trains who happened to pass by at just the right time, leaving them oblivious to the line drive heading straight for them. Missy and I decided Josh was a professional at looking busy and ready to catch the ball. He was usually in position and waiting for the ball to be hit, but if it came in his direction he would kind of run towards it, but never seemed to quite gather enough energy to get there 1st to pick it up. We called him an "official ball guide". He kind of ran along beside it, "guiding and protecting" it, until it was finally picked up. Oh well, he still had a lot of fun.

His best asset was hitting. He rarely had to use the tee, and was a strong hitter. Thank God, they wear helmets. One occasion he swung so hard, he missed the ball, but hit himself in the back of the head. Ouch! It didn't seem to bother him though.

Of course by the last couple of weeks of the season, Joshua's whole focus turned to the coveted
"Trophy". As you probably know each member of the team receives a trophy at the end of the season. We heard more than once, "When do we get our trophy?" This year they had the official ceremony on a Friday evening, where all the t-ballers got together after a game and received their trophies.

Josh was so proud of his and we had to make the rounds to show the grandparents the prestigious TROPHY after the game! I wanted to say a special thanks, to the Beltz family-yes even Beth, who shoved my head into a water fountain at church Sunday-while I was getting a drink, for their excitement they expressed to Josh over his trophy. They were the 1st ones we ran into as they were on their way to the band concert, so of course Josh had to show them his prized possession.

When we got home, we had placed the trophy on the middle of our dining room table.
The funniest thing was the next day, it wasn't where we had put it. I started to ask Joshua where he had put it, but then I went into the living room, and had to laugh. Joshua had placed his trophy in the window, for the whole neighborhood to see. :)

Waiting in line.

Josh, with his cousin Logan.

The TROPHY on display!

Rain Drops Keep Falling........

2007-06-28T16:10:00.000-06:00

Yesterday afternoon, after I arrived home, the kids and I were outside messing around, when the sky started to cloud up-like it could rain, and the air was thick with humidity. The kind that makes you sweat just by walking around in the front yard. It wasn't long before it started thundering off in the distance, and then here came the rain. It started out intermittently at first and then slowly proceeded into a regular ole"gully washer."
It rained so fast that it poured over the gutters, because they couldn't drain the water away fast enough.

We had retreated to the front porch, and then the kids asked to do something they hadn't done in a long time. They asked if they could play in the rain. What an ingenious idea! Since we have a pool and all, they usually get their needs to play in water quenched there. I told them sure!! Why not?

Your only kids once, your Mom's not here, and that occasional lightning bolt flashing from the sky looks like its a LONG way away. It's not like they asked to go SWIMMIMG submerged in 4 feet of water. I also justified my answer by looking over toward my sister's house and seeing my 2-yr old niece Hannah doing her own little rain dance in their driveway. They would never let her outside if it wasn't safe.

Watching the kids reminded me of the times when I was young. We lived in town and whenever we would have big downpours, my friends and I would take our plastic boats about 2-3 blocks west of our house, behind a grocery store and turn them loose in the ditches.I can still see my tugboat, which was red and had yellow life preservers hanging on the sides of the deck. There was a gradual slant in the layout of our neighborhood that was perfect for boat races. The best part was when they would go through the culverts that went under the streets, and you wouldn't be able see them for a few minutes. It was a tense time, wandering if your boat was going to make it through the torrential river racing by. It could get snagged on those nasty" log jams"-twigs or trash that might be caught in the middle of the tunnel. I can remember just when we thought we couldn't take it any longer, the boats would emerge and we would run along beside them, as they hurriedly headed for the next tunnel.

Oops!! sorry I digressed. Anyway here are some pix that I snapped while the kids were having fun.

Hot Diggity Dog

2007-06-12T17:08:00.000-06:00

It's been a few weeks since the death of our golden retriever, and while she was sick and getting worse and worse,I kept telling the kids that if she died we were not getting another dog for a long while.

Yeah right!! Well, the following weekend, while in Terre Haute, we found ourselves in the local pet store. Of course, it was MY idea, to go in and just look around to SEE what kind of dogs they have. I stressed several times that we were just looking, we weren't going to get one. The store was packed, as they were having a sale. Will told us he wanted to look for a part Bulldog and part Shih-tzu mix. Get it when you put the two together- :):) Teenagers are priceless!!

Of course the kids informed us they would like to hold some of the dogs when we got inside. Another big mistake! They looked at some Shelty pups, which we had owned one prior to our golden retriever, and Will also got out a golden retriever pup to play with. It's paws were HUGE!! Will and Josh played with him in one of the little play cubicles for awhile and then put him back. He was a maniac the whole time they had him out. But we quickly decided he wasn't too smart. They put him back in his cage, and immediately he did his business, and then proceeded to turn right around and EAT it-to which we were all mortified and 5 collective EEEWWWWWWWWWW's!!!(yours truly included) were heard throughout the store. Sorry I forgot to give you a warning there. Hope you weren't eating or have a weak stomach! I told the kids I felt sorry for the next people who got her out and let her kiss all over them! YUCK!! Then I asked Will if he had let her give him any kisses while they were playing. He didn't see the humor. :)

While Josh and Will were busy with the environmentally conscious golden, Maren and Missy had gotten a little white fur- ball out of it's cage. They were both having a fit over how cute she was. She was a Shimo-which is part American Eskimo and part shih- tzu. I had never heard of the mix, but she was small and cuddly and certainly knew how to "turn on the love" for Missy and Maren. They handed her to me and she immediately cuddled up , and started licking my chin. She was a cutey. So needless to say, by the time we were ready to leave, she had won everyone over, myself included. Of course, then the "Dad, Mom, can we get her?!" started incessantly.

I will say we actually got out of the store without her, hung around in the parking lot for awhile, having a family debate on whether or not to take her home , and then actually drove all the way back to Marshall, before finally deciding. Yep,I'm sure you guessed our decision by now. I'm a softy. So then Maren,Morgan-Maren's cousin, and I made a speedy trip back to the pet store to pick her up, before someone else could snatch her up.

So here are some pictures of the newest member of the Milbourn family.

Oh, by the way her name is Mo--short for Mary Margaret Moseman (just kidding, that's a friend of Missy's, it's really short for Mosie). The bottom picture is Mo with her best friend. It follows her wherever she goes.

Gamer-cise

2007-06-03T16:49:00.000-06:00

Who says kids can't get exercise while playing video games?
They just need to spend some time with our "little gamer."
It made me tired just watching him! :)

My Buddy Joshua

2007-05-24T23:00:00.000-06:00

Yesterday afternoon, I got to hang out and spend some time with my son Joshua. Due to some preventive maintenance on the equipment at work I got to leave at lunchtime. Missy had to be in town yesterday afternoon, as well, so we picked up our youngest, from the babysitter's and took him for lunch. Of course, when we asked him where he wanted to go, he said Mickey D's. So off we went.

As soon as we picked him up his first words were, "Dad, Can I go home with you this afternoon, instead of going back to the babysitters?" Of course, I'm a pushover when it comes to those big brown eyes, and I already felt like I hadn't spent alot of time with him, since getting home late Monday evening from our anniversary trip- which by the way- was SUPER!! I quickly gave up the few plans I had for the afternoon, and brought Josh home with me. I'm glad I did! We hung out in the pool, riding and wrestling an ALLIGATOR, then after we had him tamed, he even posed for some pix with us. :)

After that, it was time to pick up Maren after school, grab a quick bite to eat, and head to her 2nd ballgame of the week. There I had more quality time with Josh, since Missy led worship last night at church, and Will went to help her. My Mom and my 2-year old neice, Hannah, and nephew Michael came out to the game as well. Hannah is very..... lets say....energetic!! But thats another post, hopefully for tomorrow. Missy, her mother , and Will all showed up a little later at the game too.
Hope your day was a good one as well !

Just goofing around-at home and at the ballgame.

Leonardo? Michaelangelo? Donatello? Raphael?

2007-05-15T18:02:00.000-06:00

Check out this turtle that was at the end of our lane today!

We decided that it must be in the military, with its camo shell on.

I think it is a snake undercover-posing as a turtle. That's the freakiest turtle head I have ever seen.

Travis, can you tell me what kind of turtle this is?

Saturday Morning

2007-05-14T18:50:00.000-06:00

We awoke to a bright, sunny morning on Saturday, so I decided to cook our breakfast outside. Cooking outside is something that our whole family enjoys. We love fixing things like ham & beans over an open fire. I think it gives the food better flavor. -Could possibly be the bugs and dirt that fall in it while its cooking--I'm not sure, but anyway I didn't have the energy to start a real wood campfire, so I improvised and fired up the burner on the grill.

My assistant chef for the morning was Will. He has a built in radar that will find an open flame within a 20 mile radius.

Are you hungry yet??

While we were preparing breakfast, my lovey was on the deck, picking her toes, I mean painting her toenails!! Yes, she does have other pajamas, but it seems anytime I take her picture in the wee hours of morning-she has these miss-matched favorites on.

Maren was relaxing in the house, watching a little tv.

She is not much of a bacon and egg eater.

And here's the other little rascal, sneaking out on the deck to snatch a piece of bacon! Yes we really do buy everyone matching shirts and pajama bottoms, but they apparently can't seem to be able to put them together.

and here we are enjoying the fruits of our labor!!

O Praise Him

2007-05-05T19:51:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to share this AWESOME video/song with you. I have not been able to get it out of my head since I heard it. I'm not sure how long it has been out, but I found it on my "good friend", Travis Cottrell's Blog. :) OK just kidding, he doesn't know who I am, but I still read his blog. It will have you out of your chair PRAISING HIM!!

My Weekend

2007-04-29T20:16:00.000-06:00

As the weekend comes to a close I thought I would give everyone a recap of what the Milbourn clan did. Saturday morning included a quick trip to Terre Haute, with an expensive stop at Sam's club. We don't go there very often, thankfully, cause we can never seem to leave without spending at least $100. This time was no exception.

After that we came home, had lunch and just hung out, doing yardwork, I took the solar cover off the pool and cleaned it, and then one child even braved the cool temps of the pool and went swimming. By the way the water has warmed up to 68 degrees.

Maren's birthday is coming up next weekend, and she has been wanting either a gymnastics mat to practice on which is WAY to expensive for the small size of it, or a trampoline to practice on. We chose the trampoline -since we figured the other kids could get good use out of it too.

WELL, that was a big mistake. We went ahead and purchased it at Wally world, yesterday, and started putting it together. Let me first say that I have always DESPISED putting things together!! I will go so far as at Christmas as to specifically pick things out for the kids that don't need to be put together. Which now that I think about it is kinda weird, because I use to love putting models of cars, and thing like lincoln logs together as a child. So I'm not sure where I lost my patience. It could be with the 5 yr. old standing next to me right now, as I am typing this, asking me 50 questions, and singing the song "Lifesong" in my ear very LOUDLY. Ok, he left, anyway, where was I?

Oh yeah, the trampoline from hell!!!
Well, to make a long story short, this trampoline came with horrible directions, we got the base-frame put all the way together, only to figure out afterward, that we had did it wrong, and had to take it almost all the way apart, and start over, which caused me to begin losing my patience Big Time!! And then my sweet sister(Love ya honey!!) if you should read this, who happens to live next door and is outside in her front yard, while all this is going on, starts to HECKLE me. YES, I said HECKLE!!!

Comments like, "What's a matter Denny?" "Having troubles over there??" "You better calm down!!" She just kept at it, and a rage built up inside me, like a pot of water quickly heading to a boiling point. I had an instaneous thought to run screaming across the yard and knock her flat.
But then I quickly came back to my senses, and realized that we were not 9 and 7 years old again respectively, and she WAS a girl, so I pulled myself together and ignored her and she eventually shut up. So after about 2-3 hours total of messing with this monster(the trampoline not my sister) -we called it quits for the day. Everything was completed except for the cage(netting)that goes around it, to keep the kids from falling off, at which point I didn't care if it ever got put on.

We did live on the edge , and let the kids jump on it for awhile yesterday. (More pictures below). Today, the netting did go on a little smoother, my sister was outside again , but kept quiet.(I think she is really scared of me!) and when the kids did get on the trampoline,when it was completely finished,suprisingly it did not collapse on them. HALLELUJAH!!!

We ended the evening having supper with some friends, and then had band practice at church, where we learned the song "His Grace is Enough", by Chris Tomlin.

So that's all I got for ya!!

Sunsets

2007-04-23T19:52:00.000-06:00

I have been reminded several times by some of my "Favorite Peeps", that I have not posted any pictures from our recent vacation. So over the next few weeks or so I am going to occasionally, do just that. We vacationed in St. Pete Beach, Florida. I LOVE the beach! I think I could literally spend days at a time just sitting by the ocean. The vastness of it is astounding to me. There is nothing like watching the waves come in and out. It is soooo relaxing.

My favorite time though is sunset. Everything takes on a whole new look. Around 3-4 o'clock, the crowds thin out as people head inside to get cleaned up to go out for supper. Then about 45 minutes to 1 hour before sunset, the atmosphere changes from the bustling beach that it was earlier. Families and couples head back out to watch the glorious event. You can see cameras flashing at times as everyone tries to capture the sunset. As the sun slowly dips into the sea, you can hear shouts and claps from everyone on the beach. I choose to think they are shouts of praise to our heavenly Father, who created this all just for us!! No two sunsets are the same. It is truly amazing to me, how the colors of the sky change minute by minute as the sun lowers on the horizon. So just relax and enjoy!

Freaky Weather

2007-04-14T14:31:00.000-06:00

Does anyone have Big Al's phone number? I want to give him a call and tell him what I think of his GLOBAL WARMING theory!! :) Maybe he needs to look at the weather we have been having in the U.S the past week or so and rethink it.

What do you all think of this crazy weather? We arrived home from Florida Sunday evening to freezing temperatures, after having 82-83 temps last week. It was beautiful!! Sorry! don't mean to brag. =) I think it was fairly warm here for part of the time we were gone. I have plenty of pictures to follow in later posts of the trip. We had alot of fun.

On Monday, we got a call from our friends at Integrity Pools and Spas, wanting to come open our pool. They said if they didn't do it now it would be awhile before they could get us in, as they are getting really busy. If you know me, you know how much I love warm weather and spending time by the pool or beach so I said sure, go ahead, that way we won't have to wait later when the temps warm back up. So all week we have had this crystal clear pool sitting there , tempting me to just jump in, except for the one small fact that there are small ICEBERGS floating in the water!! OK, so there's no ice yet, but I wouldn't be suprised if I turned off the pump and let the water stop circulating. I have thought about starting a local chapter of the Polar Bear Club-except my heart would probably stop, and no one else in my family knows CPR. Any takers out there who would like to join me??? If not I guess I will keep looking out the window longingly waiting for some warm, Summer days! or fork over some money and buy a pool heater. Tempting!!

What's wrong with this Picture? Could it be the falling snow in April???

The water temp is a balmy 48 degrees. The other freaky thing going on in Milbourn land is with our lawn. It's fluorescent green in some areas.--almost as if a martian has landed and rolled around in certain parts.

At first I thought it was just the spots where our dog goes out to do her duty, but usually when she does this the grass just gets really tall and stays a dark green. There's too many areas that are too large for it to just be her alone-unless she's inviting her friends over when we're not here. Oh well, another unsolved mystery--let me know if you have any ideas.

Well that's all I got right now. My Non-complaining proofreader will probably tell me this post is just a bunch of complaining!!

It's not though, I'm just making some observations on life!!

Haircuts For All

2007-03-25T18:51:00.000-06:00

Our weekend is now complete. Missy lined all the Milbourn boys up on the deck, and sheared us one by one. It feels good to have a fresh haircut, and we are ready to start a new week. I offered to return the favor to Missy, but she declined. She already got her hair cut yesterday or I'm sure she would have taken me up on the offer! :)

PS: Joshua wanted me to include this picture of him.
I think he just wants to prove that his hair is so short that
it won't hang down off his head.

The Dog Food Recall

2007-03-22T19:35:00.000-06:00

We had a strange occurrence at our house this past weekend. We noticed that on Friday evening our dog had stopped eating her dog food. Usually when we feed her she will scarf down the food in a matter of minutes. I hadn't thought much about it until Sunday, when she still hadn't eaten it. I didn't think she was sick because she would still beg anytime the kids had any food, and she was drinking her water. I just figured that she had given in to her strange fetish and probably swallowed another sock or something. --but that is another post for another time :)

But then lo and behold-we heard about the pet food recall on the news Monday morning. We normally feed her Iams brand , which was one of the brands recalled, but we give her dry Iams and that wasn't one of recalled types. The kids tried an experiment and filled her food bowl with catfood and she went straight to the bowl and ate it all!! We purchased a different kind of dog food that evening and she ate it as well.

Coincidence?? I THINK NOT!!! We've all decided that she is watching CNN when we are not home during the day. She's a NEWS HOUND!!!

Signs of Spring

2007-03-21T15:17:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone,

I'm back on the blog! It's just been hard to follow up the last blog I posted. JUST KIDDING. Life has been a little hectic the last couple weeks, and blogging is always pushed to the last item of the day, and then it never happens. So SORRY to the 5 or 6 people who actually read my posts!! :) Since the last 2 weekends were nice weatherwise, today I am just including a BUNCH of pictures I have taken. For some reason, I have been into taking pictures of the "Wild life" around the Milbourn House. No, I'm not just talking about Missy and the kids. We seem to have a lot of other creatures running around our yard lately, so I am including them in this post as well as other "Signs of Spring". I have been especially keen on taking pictures of the birds hanging out around the feeder. I guess its the challenge of trying to snap their pix before they get away. If they make me too mad and fly away, I just let the cat outside and she takes care of them for me! :) Hope you enjoy

OK, according to the official thermometer at the Milbourn weather center it was warm enough to enjoy a little relaxation time with a good book on the deck. I think that lasted for about 20 minutes before I was interuppted.

It was here that I discovered the 1st signs of Spring--FLIES. One was enjoying my glass of tea.

And of course, no warm early spring day could be complete without the pesky ladybugs. Luckily, they were not too bad. Just a few here and there.

The ladybugs were not to be outdone. Here's the first spider sighting of the season. I read somewhere,not long ago, that at any given time, you are always no more than 2-4 feet away from a spider. My daughter doesn't think too highly of those statistics. She was having a COW!, when I was picking this one up on our front porch. I have to admit though the big hairy ones do kinda freak me out!!

It's great to see something with COLOR outside again. These are some of our perennials which are pushing through the leaves. Pretty
exciting HUH??!!

And now its time for this blog to go to the BIRDS!! ........

I will leave you with a few squirrels frolicking in the warm weather! :)

Life is GOOD!!!!!!

The Life of the Party

2007-02-28T20:07:00.000-06:00

Missy recently commented on one of her blog posts that we knew our relationship with Tim and Jennifer had reached a new level. They had come over to our house, on a Friday night, and instead of sitting around talking, we all had our computers in our laps surfing the net. Occasionally we would stop and talk and then continue surfing. Personally, I think our relationship reached a new level along time ago. Let me use some pix to illustrate my point.

It all started a few years back. We went on vacation with Tim and Jennifer, and Travis and Gretchen, to St. Pete Beach, Florida. It was a 4-day trip without the KIDS!! WOO HOO!!!! We were all excited just to have a little time away to relax. That is where we found out that Tim likes to SLEEP!! Anywhere!!, Anytime!! The first night there we all got together, in one of our rooms to hang out for awhile. It wasn't long before Tim, assumed this positon on the floor. If you look closely, we had a little fun while he was asleep and tied his shoes together. That was fun!!

We have found that Tim's favorite place to sleep, is on our couch. After he parks there for awhile, he is out. The above, right picture you will find him sleeping with his favorite Christmas blankie, with visions of sugar plums dancing in his head!

Even with all the excitement of an indoor water park, Tim still finds the time to squeeze in a nap.(see above) :) :) He has been known even on more than one occassion to suck his friends into the naptimes with him. After all you can only sit and watch him sleep for so long!! See pix above right and pix below.

Tim, Tim , Wake up and give me my MP3 player back!!!

OK! OK! He wasn't really asleep in this picture-I think he would have been though if we would have left him alone a little longer.

Which now brings me to this last picture of the Timothy tale, which is where this blog post began-In our living room, a few weeks ago on our computers, and one of Tim's favorite places-

our couch.

Thanks Tim, for allowing me to share the pictures and tell the story!!!

Denny

Oh Happy Day

2007-02-22T22:22:00.000-06:00

Here's how my day started.

I was walking into work on the sidewalk (in the dark mind you) located behind the building. When alas, I felt something extra soft hit the heel of my left shoe. I did a little sliding number, and of course did the quick look around to see if anyone was looking. But who in there right mind would be out at 6:50 am. WELL, apparently some BIG dog was, and couldn’t quite make it to the snow-covered grassy area on both sides of the sidewalk. Or quite possibly, he didn’t want to get his paws wet in the snow, but at any rate, I stepped or slid through his deposit. So after a loud grumble, I proceeded to the nice snowy, grassy area to grind my shoe in the snow, to remove the nasty. At that point, I had the brief thought that if this was how my day was starting , I should have stayed home in bed. I thought about cleaning it up, but I didn’t have any proper utensils to do the job, plus I needed to get into work so I wouldn’t be late. I didn’t think anything else about my “misstep” earlier, until 1 ½ hours later when my co-worker came to work and the first words out of her mouth were, “Did you see that some dog left a big pile of c#@p right in the middle of the sidewalk?” To which I held up my left foot and said, “Why ,yes I did!” Needless to say, she had a nice little laugh!

Missy called about 10:30 am, and said she would pick me up for lunch at 11:00. When she arrived she called and let me know that she was waiting in the parking lot. I hurriedly grabbed my coat, and headed outside. Didn’t want to keep my Lovey waiting! I was walking down the sidewalk trying to look serious as I was walking toward Missy’s car. A week or so, I was coming out to meet her and she made fun of me because I had a stupid look on my face, like I was laughing or something all the way to the car. So I was thinking about looking suave and smart as I headed her way, when all of a sudden, SMOOSH!! Yes, you guessed it!! Same foot and all, right in the pile AGAIN!!!

I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT!! How could I be so stupid as to forget my earlier experience. Only this time it was worse. It covered the entire bottom of my shoe and came half way up the side. This time I had a few choice words come from my mouth, and I headed back to my favorite snow bank. By this time, I can see Missy straining her neck trying to see what the heck I was doing. I headed for the car, where she is still trying to see why I’m walking so funny. Of course, I told her it was HER fault. If I hadn’t been trying to look so intelligent and impress her as I was walking , I would have remembered to watch my step. By the time I finished telling her it was the 2nd time I had stepped in it today, we were both laughing hysterically. She wasn’t laughing quite as hard when I stepped into the car and she got a big whiff of me, when the heat blew across my foot!! I had to get napkins, and clean off the side of my shoe. Then , of course , there’s the dilemma, of what do I do with the napkins? I couldn’t put them in the car until I can find a trash can. Luckily the wind was blowing about 30 mph, so I just let them fly!!
So finally we went and had a nice lunch, and upon returning to work, I once again shared the fine experience with my co-worker, who had her second good laugh of the day.

SO I JUST WANTED TO SHARE IT WITH EVERYONE ELSE!!
IT’S SO NICE TO BRIGHTEN SOMEONES DAY WITH MY OWN BLUNDERS!
So, see your day could have been worse!!

P.S. no I didn't step in it again on my way home! :-)

Daydreaming VS. Reality

2007-02-18T18:33:00.000-06:00

Well, out of sheer boredom this afternoon, I have finally decided to create a blog!

I think Missy is more excited about it than I am. The hardest thing is coming up with a name for it. I'm not to happy with the one chosen -so I might change it. Anybody got any good ideas?

Earlier I was flipping through some of the (sorry to admit!!)approx. 1800 pictures on my computer(which I also must admit that most haven't been backed up onto CD's either) and came across this one of our pool taken last summer. I'm really getting a little tired of winter, cold temps and snow. I spent another 10 minutes or so just daydreaming about warm weather. I can't wait to be able to open the windows, sit outside and read a good book, and even yard work is sounding like fun. ( Someone remind me of that this Summer when its 95 degrees and humid!! OK, now back to reality-so I'm also adding a picture of what our pool looks like today.

Hope you enjoy!