disappointed....

Riding home in the car with Joe and Joey the other night from church and Joey asks, "I know that people call other people bad names, and I know not to repeat them, but what do they mean?".
I told him that it was ok to tell me what he heard and he said that a boy from swimming had called him this: F A G G O T. (He spelled it). To be honest, I was ready for much worse.
I explained to him that some people say swear words because they aren't very smart and don't have a very good vocabulary. Then I explained that the word could have a couple meanings but the kid was saying that Joey was like a girl (I didn't even want to get into the homosexual thing cause we haven't talked about s e x). I know, not correct, but it was the closest thing I could find without going down a slippery slope that I'm not ready to ride. One thing I did explain is that it is just a word. And it means nothing. It's not worth arguing, fighting, or hurt feelings.
All the while my heart is breaking for kids today. Why the need to berate someone for that? Blame the Christians all you want for doing hateful, hurtful acts in the name of Christ, but He does NOT command us to do these things. Those acts are committed because we are all human. And humans are sin-filled beings. (Which leads to a very tough question from Joey: Why did God create humans to have sin?)
SIN is SIN. Why don't they call each other thieves, murderers, slanderers, adulterers, etc? I don't understand it.
Sometimes I catch myself wondering WWJD. I know, silly, crazy, over-used WWJD. But, the funny thing is, if Christ were here right now, he'd be hanging out with the thieves, homosexuals, adulterers, murderers, etc. And not just trying to convert them. He would genuinely love them. I think that we all forget that the most important commandment is "to love one another". And as Joey says, "that means everybody".
Huh, it's funny what a 3 year old Sunday School lesson on Zacchius can do to a person. Silly song is still running through my head.....

Random thoughts...

Ok, I'll admit it. I'm a closet Train fan. I actually downloaded "Hey Soul Sister" off iTunes. Oh and we had to get "Dynamite" too. Which I'm so sick of hearing.

Made some darn good chicken egg rolls tonight. Joey even ate one! Ant, Kara and kids came over. Ant thinks I should somehow sell my egg rolls. And make a meellion dollars. Yeh, right.

Silly me. I'm a glutton for punishment. Downloaded Angry Birds for Pc last night. You can get it from Intel AppUp. Lots of other stuff there. Freebees too. Anyway, I think that we are all addicted to Angry Birds. Even me. And I DON'T play games! We were up until 11:00 last night playing.

Olivia looks sooo much like Anthony did when he was a baby.......

AHA Jump Rope Prize

Here is Joey with one of the prizes that he got from the AHA Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser. Found out he raised the 2nd highest in the whole school! Thank you so much for all that donated!

Isaiah & Mason hanging out at Grandma's

Isaiah and Mason just hanging out at Grandma's and enjoying some fine Indiana springtime weather. The jeep provided some great fun and I figured out how to leave the steering wheel turned just a bit so they go in circles. I posted some pics here

Joey Jump Ropin' for AHA

Here is some video that I took from a couple weeks ago where Joey is doing his jump roping thing for AHA. As you can see, it's amazing how much a year can make a difference. Can you believe how tall he is? Thanks so much for all that donated!

New pics posted

Had a little bit of time tonight and uploaded the pictures from the first game of the season (Isaiah's first Cubs game!). You can see them here. I've got some video to upload too so maybe this weekend.

Joey is getting ready to JUMP!!!!

It's that time of year again and Joey is doing "Jump Rope for Heart" at school. We have set up his own personal page for you to take a look at. Will you please take a moment to take a look and possibly make a donation to the American Heart Association?
You can see his personal page here.

Here is Joey jumping last year. I'll try and get some video for this year to post.

Thanks!

Pictures up on Shutterfly site

Just posted some pics on our Shutterfly site here: http://garberickii.shutterfly.com. I'd post more, but THE SAINTS WON THE SUPER BOWL!!!!! Gotta love Drew Brees.......

Summertime Thursdays

We've been going to River Run apartments in Elkhart with LifeLine & FBC to cook out, play with the kids, and develop relationships with the residents. 97% of the residents are single parent households and it's subsidised. Several churches have been participating and I've been taking pictures at each event.

I've been printing out 4x6 prints and taking them to the kids. They get such a kick out of that! Last week, one of the pastors asked if I had posted pictures somewhere online so that they could show their congregation. I've been so busy, I hadn't even really thought about it so the other night, I created a Shutterfly share site. If you want to see some really sweet, funny kids take a look here.

Here is Joey with a new friend!(That's Moe-Moe)...

Joey Jump Rope for Heart

Joey jump roped for the American Heart Association during gym the other day. Obviously we need to work on this. It's pretty funny.

Korean Culture Festival

I have a friend that adopted 2 Korean children. Their names are Jon & Caty. She also has a little boy named Andy from Hong Kong. They are all such special, fantastic kids.
Jon, Andy & Jane (Mom) have been taking Korean language classes up in Kalamazoo. She invited us to a Korean Culture Festival that they were having at the SDA Korean church. Of course, Joey didn't want to go up. He (a)doesn't like Korean food (or rice, he's not my child!), and (b)doesn't like anything Korean? After we had told him that the Knisely's were going to be there, he agreed to go with us (like he had any choice).
Anyway, what a wonderful & blessed time had by all. There were some Korean War veterans that were recognized by the Pastor of the church. It's amazing how emotional they still get when thanking the American soldiers for playing such a huge part in helping the Korean people in the war. For the beginning presentation, they had dancers and a Tae Kwon Do exhibition. Also, a delightful young lady played Arirung (sp?) on the flute. There were tables set up all around the hall with Korean games, food demonstrations, traditional clothing to try on (for photo ops) and some gentlemen that wrote your name on paper in Korean. Lastly, there was a mountain of traditional Korean food. Of course, I ate my weight in kimbop & chopchae. The only disappointment was it looked like the kimchee had been washed and was not hot? I think they did it for all of the people that weren't accustomed to kimchee. I say, BRING IT ON!

Here is Jon Knisely giving his speech. Good job, Jon!




I posted some pictures here.

pictures from the Florida trip

Warning, there are a bunch of pictures here so make sure you have enough time to see them all. I'm pretty sure that everyone that I sent it to has broadband. Enjoy!
Christmas 2008

Joey"isms"

This is as good place as any to jot these down.

Last P/T conference, Joey's teacher said that she wanted to tell me something. Of course, I'm like, "OH NO, what did he do now?". Turns out they had a really bad day with the kids being really rowdy. She called a class meeting and asked them what they should do about it. Joey raised his hand and said, "we should pray". She said she was really taken aback and told him that "for those of us that pray, that's a really good idea!". Then he said that all the kids should learn the fruit of the spirit and proceeded to recite Galations 5:22. She told him that those were all good things and that they were life skills that they were learning in class. Go figure, my little Moses.

Last week, Joe was grilling Joey on what to do if someone offered him drugs (you know how Joe is) or if a bully should pick on him. Joey told him that bullies aren't allowed at their school. They have a No Bully policy. Then he told us that they EXECUTE bullies at Jefferson. When we started laughing, he stopped and said that it was something like that. I said, "You mean, EXPELLED?" He said, "Yeh, whatever". I guess executed sounded better. I want to send the principal an email that his bully policy was a little "harsh".

Finally, Sunday night after church, we were asking Joey what his lesson had been about in Sunday school. We got the, "I dunno". Then a couple minutes later, he said, "I remember now. It was about Guidion. And how he defeated the MENNONITES. Once again, I couldn't help myself and busted out laughing. Joe asked him if maybe it was the Isrealites? Joey said no, he was sure it was the mennonites.

Man, I just hate it that he's growning up.....

2008 Florida trip

Another trip to Florida. I wasn't crazy about going and really don't know what has gotten into Joe. This is totally not like him. Anyway, God smiled on us and the weather was gorgeous. I learned that you can get a sunburn in December in Florida!

We had a week's pass to Universal so we went every evening except for Saturday & the Tuesday before we left. We had a really good time. Best of all was the movie that Joe got to be in here (make sure you look real close at the first group of people in the subway car):

Anyway, as soon as I have the pics up on Shutterfly, I'll post here.

On another note, our Big Boy Isaiah is walking now! You can see him here.

Guess it's time

Haven't been much to document things. Not a scrapbooker. I save things tho. In case the urge to "scrap" should ever hit me. But I feel like I should document Ant & Kara's wedding in some way. Of course, there will be a quilt. Not till it gets colder tho.

Well, we just got back from the rehearsal & dinner. It all went really well. Kara's family is so nice. Dandino's did a nice job on the dinner and Cindy had the table decorated so nice with these cube like boxes to hold a floral arrangement and the kid's pictures around them. If I think about it tomorrow, I'll take pictures of them. Have to make sure and take lots of pictures for Amy & Kris.

The setting for the wedding is beautiful. Going to be in the upper 70's and sunny tomorrow. The reception is going to be outside and the yard has shade trees so it will be nice. It's just so hard to believe that Ant is getting married tomorrow.....

Anyway, got to go to bed and get some sleep. We have to be at Prairie Manor tomorrow @ 11:00 with Mom & Dad for pictures.