Yikes!

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words... these two may be worth more than that. For anyone who is curious for a more verbal explanation however, This is Levi, our dear son, during the twenty minutes that followed finishing up a piece of "Emergency Chocolate Pie". (This is no culinary masterpiece: it was instant chocolate pudding poured into a store-bought graham cracker crust with a handful of crushed macadamia nuts thrown hastily onto the top. Sorry Granny B - I know this ruins my reputation as a chef, but I only had ten minutes. :) At least Levi didn't object.

House Pictures!

Sorry for the LONG wait...here are a few pictures of the house...I haven't figured out yet how to insert words between the pictures, so I'll have to do all my explaining down here.

The first picture is of the living room. (Note the front door).

The second pic. is what you see if you turn around 180 degrees from where you were standing for the first picture. (The kitchen and living room is a common area - separated only by a long island.) The dining room is also connected by a wide doorway. Though it's harder to find a piece of wall to put a bookshelf on, we like the one-room living space concept a lot. It keeps people from hiding in their own little corner and forces them to act like family. :)

Next is another picture of the kitchen (I left out the view of the sink, which looks through an opening into the dining room. The sink is quite pretty - it was the mountain of dirty dishes sitting inside it that wasn't so picture-worthy. This is a similar concept to why there is no picture of the master bedroom/laundry folding factory. :)

The next two pics. are the kids' room and the bathroom respectively. (I know you could have probably figured that out. )

Finally, the laundry room which opens onto the kitchen...Please oogle over the wonderful heavy-duty pantry shelves Taylor built for me! ........And Last but not least, the ever-present heap of boxes that I still have to find something to do with! :) Thanks for taking my "tour"!

the Serpent

When most people think of a serpent in a Biblical context, the appropriate analogy of the devil or Satan comes to mind; many may even think of the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Every time that I kill (or have to dispose of) a (rattle)snake the same imagery comes to mind and I will share it with you.

The best and most effective way to kill a snake is to separate its head from its body. This will render the snake swoon or dead...almost. For a considerably long time after the head is cut off, that deadly snake will be far from harmless. In my short career of snake killing, I have had the snake head vigorously attack the pointed end of my hoe as I am dealing a final fatal blow; if left alone the snake body (and likely the head) will wiggle for several hours after it has been decapitated; also, I had seen a rather large snake (perhaps 5' or more) blown into three pieces (via shotgun) with its full-grown head with less than 2 inches of body attached to it continue to run away and be completely undeterred in its mission. This last snake (see previous post) was no different. Though I must be getting more accustomed to wounding the snake enough to separate and quickly crush its head, I still shutter at its lethality and its devotion to thrive under fatal circumstances; additionally, the wiggling body is a constant reminder. Once the head is properly disposed of the body is harmless, but it has far from ended its actions.

This picture is more than one of the death of a single snake, more so it reminds me of the evil and sin in our/my own heart as characterized by the devil. The book of Genesis tells me that the offspring of Eve, that is Jesus Christ, will crush the head of the serpent. In other words, Jesus Christ, will/has completely and utterly destroyed Satan. Satan knows that his time is limited and that he has lost the war in eternity by shedding the blood of Jesus. However, Satan still continues to wiggle and fight for anything that he can get and though he will lose in the end, he will make our life full of fear and misery by wiggling his harmless, dead, (spiritual) body.

-Taylor

Snakes

It is that time of year again...actually, it is a bit early, but with this warm weather the rattlesnakes are coming out to enjoy the day also. So let me tell you about our first encounter this year:

It was a nice, but warm (~90*) day today and as soon as the sun went down a cool breeze came in. The dogs (and cat) were very excitable this evening. We called the dogs in around 9pm because Pete was circling the house...probably looking for trouble to dig up (pun intended). Pascal (the cat) stayed outside and did not want to come in yet. Alesha went out to hang some more clothes (with Pascal around, she feels reasonably safe since he can see creepy things in the dark better than we can). Alesha came back in, but Pascal wanted to stay out. We had our windows open to feel the breeze come through the house. Alesha went to the window and heard a strange, but somewhat familiar sound, but she did not think, "Snake!" (keep in mind that our new house makes many interesting sounds that we constantly mistake for other things...in fact, just now (I thought) I heard Levi crying in bed, but no, it was just the water heater screaming quietly in its closet). Alesha stepped outside on to our porch to listen to the sound better; she saw Pascal about 10 feet away staring at the house and the strange yet familiar sound made complete sense. It was a rattlesnake! So I got the gun, and blew him in half on the 1st shot (yea!...I do not consider myself a very good shot...especially, when trying to hit a skinny piece of rope laying next to my new house). I took another shot at the snake, because I really wanted the head separated from the body. Eventually, I used a hoe to finish him off. It was all quite an exciting evening. I saved the body...well, what is left of the body for the kids to play with in the morning. ;-)

Enjoy!
Taylor

"Just for Thank You..."

Glory and I had a fun conversation the other day, and I thought you might want to listen in...

• Glory: "Mama, I'm gonna turn on the light - is that O.K.?"

• Me: "No, let's leave it off for now; it's pretty bright in here. We have to pay money to use that light, but we can use the skylight for free.

• Glory: (confused look)

• Me: "Do you have to pay for the sunshine, Glory?"

• Glory: "Yes."

• Me: (Laughing a bit), "Who do you give the money to?"

• Glory: "the LORD"

• Me: (Laughing a bit harder), "No, Glory, the Lord doesn't make us pay for the sunshine. He gives it to everybody for free. We do give money to the Lord, though, you're right..."

• Glory: (interrupting my explanation), "Yeah, just for THANK YOU!"
  

---I pray that I will continue to remember the graces the Lord has given so freely, and truly remember that the money we offer for His use IS a token THANK YOU for the sunshine, and the rain, the springtime and the harvest that He faithfully continues to give to us - for free.

Blogging @ Home

Well, I have some good news for those of you who want more detailed information per blog entry...this may be one of my last entries! Yup, it is possible that Alesha will be slowly taking over the blog. We are trying out a new wireless internet connection offered by our cell phone provider. It offers reasonably high speed access that I may be able to use for my work (the intent of my job is that I work from home, but this has never been realized since I required high speed access with minimal latency far out of town...this rules out DSL, cable, and satellite). Currently, I am trying out the wireless access to see if it will meet my work needs (I have 15 days to use and abuse it). If it is acceptable, then we will have to figure out some way for me to work from a currently only two-bedroom house...details, details. A perk of having this internet capability at home is that we can use it for personal use (as long as it does not interfere with my work). So here we go, Wireless Internet, on trial!

For those of you techies, our provider uses CDMA instead of GSP (?). If you know anything about it, then I would like to hear from you. I really want to push this connection to the limit during my trial period so that there are fewer surprises later on.

Enjoy!
Taylor

Welcome Home!

As soon as we get the place cleaned up a bit (i.e. no more boxes to unpack), then we will get you some pictures from the inside.

-Taylor