Learning Joy

Cool story. The reporter didn’t quite get it, but God is awesome!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080521/ap_on_fe_st/odd_flight_prayer;_ylt=AuLSWl0I9Vit20yvFoSk1GEuQE4F

This morning we heard about boys in England needing to have surgery because they were developing breasts. The doctors said the problem wasn’t that bad now, but it had the potential to turn into “firm, woman-like” breasts. They seemed to think it was because of obesity … I guess Laura did too. She made the comment that we don’t need another reason for people (or some “body”) to regulate what we eat.
I don’t think that obesity has as much to do with boys developing breasts as the hormones put into the food we eat does. Because of these hormones, girls develop earlier, too. It wouldn’t surprise me to find out that the hormones boys eat during their developmental years react with their bodies in such a way to give them breasts.
People have been obese for centuries. In the past, it was a sign of wealth to be fat. Granted, obesity is on the rise, but our lifestyles have changed drastically with technology and manufacturing. Physical labor used to be more normal. We used to have to do lots more work to get stuff done. I’d never have been able to wait so long to do the laundry in those days!! Men & women had to work harder, more physically. Now, however, we are able to sit around a lot more.
So today’s obesity may be due to eating foods with added hormones, plus not getting out there and exercising. I don’t think anyone should regulate what we eat, but I do think people should stop putting hormones in our food.

Good morning!

It’s 8:25 a.m. here and I have the kettle on the stove for tea. The sun is shining and it looks like we’re gearing up for a great, warm, wonderful day.
Yesterday was really busy for us, but it was great. Jeff made breakfast (scrambled eggs, potatoes [someone had given us some frozen home-fry-type potatoes], and I made coffee. Breakfast was yummy & then I was able to do the dishes really quick! Then we all got ready and left. We picked up Grandma, then dropped off Nicholas at Diane’s house and headed to Olympia. Mom wanted to get us lunch, so we tried to go down early. The only problem was, Jeff’s breakfast was so yummy, we weren’t hungry (well, the boys were, but they always seem to be hungry these days)! So Mom bought us milkshakes at Jack-in-the-Box. The kids got breakfast burritos. Then we were off to the play.
Our homeschool co-op has been going to plays presented by the Olympia Junior Program. The plays are all different venues, and only cost $3/person. Yesterday we saw James & the Giant Peach. They put a twist on it in that James was deaf and everything was in sign language. There was still speaking, but they all signed the whole time, too. It was pretty neat – except that they told James he had the power in him to make his life better … all he had to do was make good decisions. Ha! I had to laugh at that, being a chronic bad-decision-maker without God.
After the play we went looking for a bakery that said they sold cheesecake on a stick. We found it, and they didn’t have it. I was so bummed! We didn’t get anything, instead we went to a furniture liquidation store Mom wanted to see. They had nice furniture. I have expensive taste. I loved a chair & ottoman, but it was $700 for the pair! The lady said she’d talked her manager down to $500. Ha! I need a whole couch, not just a chair … it was really comfy, though!!
After the furniture store, we went to Jack-in-the-box again. This time we had lunch. I got a side salad and chicken strips. It was really yummy.
We got lost trying to get back to the freeway from the restaurant because Olympia is stupid. They don’t put signs on the posts, they label THE ROAD. How are you supposed to see what lane to be in when it is ON THE ROAD you’re driving on??? Needless to say, we wasted about a half an hour with that mess.
We were in a hurry a little bit then, because we needed to drop off Mom, pick up Nicholas, pick up Brittany, drop off the boys at Doug & Marie’s (bil/sil) and then go to CareNet’s Light & Life Banquet. Everything worked out great, except we were a little under-dressed for the banquet. Nicholas had had a blast with Miss Diane. He loves hanging out at her house ‘cause there is always a lot to do. Corey (her son) is his friend and they have fun together.
The banquet was awesome! The food was so good. There was this tulip-shaped chocolate cup with white mousse in it and chocolate mousse beside it … and a raspberry on top! Oh, that was delicious. And the salad had little tiny blueberries in it!! Then we had chicken, mashed potatoes and asparagus and carrots – all so yummy! I think the potatoes were garlic potatoes. My favorite part about the banquets is hearing the testimonies of people CareNet (the crisis preg. Center) has helped.
After the banquet was over, we talked to the people who do Ride4Us. If you have heard of them, you should get involved! They are so cool – they have a run/walk/ride in September (it may be different where you are) and they raise money for ultrasounds. Last year we did so well, all of the CPCs in our area were able to get an ultrasound machine! Ride4Us is nationwide, but I am not sure of where nationwide it’s located.
That was our day. We went and picked up the boys (who’d had tons of fun with Uncle Doug & Aunt Marie) and dropped off Britt and came home. Then we all crashed! It was a Busy Day!!

This morning Jonathan woke up to find a present on the table. We sang “Happy Birthday” to him, then he opened it. Check out the third picture (bottom left) for his reaction. 🙂
We’re having waffles for breakfast, pizza for lunch and turkey for supper. This Saturday (the 3rd) is his birthday party.

here you can see Daniel’s reaction, too. 🙂

Nicholas really likes this ride – it is usually the first ride he goes to at Chuck E. Cheese. He used to fit in it a lot better!!! Nicholas had a lot of fun at MacKenzie’s party. It was the first party that he went to alone (without big brothers).

Nicholas & Genna at MacKenzie’s birthday party. Nicholas *was* going to marry Genna when he got older, but now he thinks he might marry MacKenzie. :o) Jeff told him to leave his options open.

I loved Snoopy as a kid. I especially liked the story of Snoopy & the Red Baron. I had it on my ViewMaster. Fast-forward a few years and I married Jeff. Jeff likes Peanuts. He has a lot of Peanuts memorabilia. The kids discovered that he had the Snoopy and the Red Baron game (I never knew one existed!!). They like to play that. Today Jeff signed me up for Encyclopedia Britannica’s site. Since I am a blogger, they are giving me a free subscription for a year. EB will allow my readers to access articles on their site when I post about them. So … today is the day that Manfred, baron von Richthofen was shot down. I don’t know (and the article doesn’t say either) if he was the Red Baron or not, but he sure sounds like he could have been! He was personally credited with shooting down 80 aircraft. So go check out the article, and tell me if the link worked, and let me know if you like the EB site (what you’ll be able to see of it)… and was it easy to read, etc. Thanks!!

Here is another picture of the boys with the chicks. This was when they were trying to get them to hold them.