Finally A Date

Well, sort of.  Chris' first novel will be released but not just yet.  Finally, the publisher told us we can expect a release date in late March or April 2011.  I was a little disappointed just because I am so excited to see this book in printed form. I want to see it now!  However, we have been a little busy the last few months so March is probably a much better time for our family.  It also gives me more time to plan a release party and put together a few more contacts.  If you or someone you know has great info for me about a release party for a new book PLEASE don't hesitate to share that information with us.

I know God has plans for us and even this book, plans to prosper us and not to harm us.  I am confident that this book will bring glory and honor to our Lord and Savior.  Since I can't see into the future I'm not sure what that means other than I can trust He has our best interest at the heart of the matter.  I can't wait to see what His plan is.  My prayer is that we do His will and always point all glory back to Him.

WriteLife is a small publishing company in Omaha, Nebraska that has picked up Chris' book.  WriteLife is interested in helping out new and young writers.  If you have any interest in submitting some writing go to this site http://writelife.com/  This is a great place to start.  Once again I remind you, the book you want to get hot off the press is THE NEW PHENOM3NON by Chris Raabe.  You will find it on http://www.amazon.com/ and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ .  If you reside in Omaha you may find it in the local storefront at as well.  I think tonight we got a great connection at B & N.  Chris will also be making several book signing stops across the nation.  If you have interest in an up and coming author visiting your area please contact me via this blog.  Soon we will have an official site with more information.

Happy Wednesday to each of you.

Christmas Hangover

That's the only way I can explain it. Two days after the big holiday and I have a headache to top all headaches.  It's not just the holiday it's all the extras that a person either deals with or lets build up stress, here are a few of those things:  staying up way too late, eating too much junk food, no exercise, company, the stress of hoping everyone is pleased with their gifts, hanging out with sick people, dealing with unpleasant people, crazy traffic, too much Wii...it all adds up to one big hangover type of headache.  I don't want to imply that our Christmas was bad. There's just lots going on this time of year and when everything finally dies down it leaves my head pounding.

I tried all kinds of things to feel better today, you know the usual...
chiropractor
lots of water
shopping with a dear friend
pedicure
Starbucks
lunch out
nap
ignoring my phone calls
but then finally I hit happy hour with some girlfriends.  I think nachos, a margarita and some girl talk did the trick. 

May you all enjoy the days after Christmas as much as the days leading up to the birth of Christ.  I urge you to remember why we celebrate December 25th.  It's 363 days until Christmas 2011...plan ahead in order to avoid the pre-christmas headache.

Christmas Dance Recital

The 2010 Dance season is in full swing around our house now that we have two beautiful dancers.  Lil' Sister is following in the footsteps of her Big Sis.  Every Wednesday Liv has an important date with 9 other little dancers.  I am simply amazed how Ms Jackie can teach these little darlings the art of ballet and the discipline of not jumping in taps.

Even Chris enjoys the Christmas recital, after all it's a one afternoon ordeal and lasts just over one hour.  What dad wouldn't love it?

Christmas Dance Recital 2010

I tried to fade out the other dancers to highlight Emma but it kind of looks like she is dancing with a stage full of ghosts.  Love your smile and beautiful dance movements on stage!

This little cutie-pa-tootie had a brief moment of fear and then she poured on the charm.

Final Bows

Great job girls! 

May you continue to grow and learn all the while acknowledge that your gifts and talents come from God.  I love you both.  Mommy

Berry World

It's been 32 days since our family joined the rest of the world in texting, internet via the phone and constant connection.  This little device called the Blackberry is my friend but might become my foe.  I am about to learn the importance (once again) of boundries. 

I won't be a driving texter but have been known to answer a text at a long stop light.
I won't text during bible study.
I won't surf the net during church.
I won't facebook during dinner.

With this new level of availablity you should be able to reach Chris, my oldest or myself most of the time.  If not try our home phone. (yep, it's new)

Judas Asparagus

The bible through the eyes of a child: The Children's Bible in a Nutshell In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas.  The Bible says, 'The Lord thy God is one, but I think He must be a lot older than that. Anyway, God said, 'Give me a light!' and someone did. Then God made the world.  He split the Adam and made Eve.  Adam and Eve were naked,  but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet.  Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden.....Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn't have cars.  Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel.  Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except forMethuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.   One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham.  Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked  some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check.  After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast.  Jacob had a son  named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat. Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston.  Moses led the Israel Lights out of   Egypt  and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh's people.  These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable.  God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti.  Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include: don't lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor's stuff.  Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother. One of Moses' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies.  Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town. After Joshua came David..  He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot.  He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines.  My teacher says he was wise,  but that doesn't sound very wise to me. After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets.  One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore.  There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don't have to worry about them. After the Old Testament came the New Testament.  Jesus is the star of The New.  He was born  in   Bethlehem   in a barn.   (I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me, 'Close the door! Were you born in a barn?' It would be nice to say, 'As a matter of fact, I was.') During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Democrats.  Jesus also had twelve opossums.  The worst one was Judas Asparagus.  Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him.  Jesus was a great man.  He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount.  But the Democrats and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot.  Pilot didn't stick up for Jesus.  He just washed his hands instead. Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again.  He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum.  His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

Mary Sunshine????

No, not really!!

Yes, I try to avoid the yucky part of life in my blog entries because there's plenty of that all around us.  Every day the newspaper, television, freeways, grocery stores and internet are full of discouraging stories, mean acts and dangerous truths so if I can concentrate on the positives about my life it's better for all of us.  I don't mean to portray a life that isn't real.  We have issues.  We have faults.  We have trials.  Do you really care to read about my garbage when you have your own junk to deal with?  I didn't think so.

However, just to make Lindsey fell alittle better about herself I have a few things to say...

The past 4 months have had moments of joy, pleasure and excitement but they have also held some of the toughest times that Chris and I have encountered in our fourteen years of marriage. 
*I finally decided to face some of the junk in my past; it brought up more junk and then I had to decide what to do with that information.
*Our good friends moved out of state.
*Fall is always busy but this year Chris coached high school softball as well as Reagan's competitve softball team.  We had very little time for family.
*We learned that some close friends had no use for us.
*Chris' father has been in the hospital five times.
*Amelia lived only a few hours
*I moved my aunt to town only to take over her financial and health decisions.
*We have a middle schooler.  YIKES! I'm stuggling with my parenting
* My last 2 scrapbook weekends have been cancelled.
*One friend is getting a divorce
*Family...
*We have children in 3 different schools.
*My house is a mess most of the time.

I could probably come up with several other stressors if I stopped to think about it for a minute or two.  This is a list of "yuck" but I can offset each bullet point with a silver lining.  My positive view point is not because I am Mary Sunshine but because God gives me hope.  Never has He put more on my plate than what I can handle.  Growth comes through trials.  Precious metals are refined by fire.  I pray that my struggles will help me focus on God and not on myself...some days are easier than others.

PaRty TiMe

Can it be true?  My baby is turning five years old today?  Does that mean I'm not a mommy of toddlers anymore? 

There may be a sad little corner in my heart as I think about the baby years, cute little clothes, learning her colors and knowing I won't have more babies but the rest of my heart is overwhelmed with JOY!  Watching Olivia overcome many of the struggles she faced the first two years of her life and becoming a delightful little girl makes smile with contentment, knowing I have a powerful God who cares about the smallest of details to the biggest concerns.

As with every birthday in our house, this morning Olivia woke to a room filled with streamers and balloons.  The breakfast of choice always seems to be donuts...go figure.  Then we had a little photo session as she opened her gifts but I was careful to stay out of the pictures as I was sporting my jammies and CRAZY hair.

As soon as everyone is showered and dressed we'll take a van full of donations to the Salvation Army, go see Aunt Delma and then have a little birthday party this evening with some close family friends and the grandparents who can make it today.

The bible tells us that all good things come from Heaven.  My sweet baby was created by a loving God and sent down to our family for a time.  I am so privilaged to have the opportunity to love, care for and teach this little blessing from God.

Healthy Food for Healthy Living

As Cold and Flu season attempts to invade our life, it is important to consider some very easy ways to stay healthy that doesn't include drugs and shots.  We have tried hard this year to eat more organically grown foods however the budget can make purchasing such foods difficult. 

I found this list via Pearson Chiropractic at mercola.com. 

Of the 43 different fruit and vegetable categories tested by the Environmental Working Group and included in their Shoppers' Guide to Pesticides in Produce, these 12 fruits and vegetables had the highest pesticide load, making them the most important to buy or grow organic:

Peaches


Apples


Sweet bell peppers


Celery


Nectarines


Strawberries


Cherries


Lettuce


Grapes (imported)


Pears


Spinach


Potatoes


In contrast, these foods were found to have the lowest residual pesticide load, making them the safest bet among conventionally grown vegetables:
Broccoli


Eggplant


Cabbage


Banana


Kiwi


Asparagus


Sweet peas (frozen)


Mango


Pineapple


Sweet corn (frozen)


Avocado


Onion


So if you need to work within a certain budget, use this information to help guide you to the best choices when it comes to lowering your overall pesticide exposure.

We live a healthy lifestyle which keeps us out of the doctor's office.  Thanks to good food, plenty of rest, food suppliments and chiropractic care our family doctor doesn't even know we exist.  That's they way I like it.

Happy December 1st!