Just Give me Jesus

I am going to the Just Give Me Jesus conference this coming weekend. You can find more information on that here.

I'm not entirely sure why I want to go. I'm not a huge one for wanting to go to these types of things. I've been "burned" too many times by bad teaching, or weird charismatic type stuff, but I saw this announced and I immediately thought to myself... I want to go.

I even have things competing with it.
1. A scrapbooking show RIGHT HERE IN LONDON. Yes I know...I'm one of those strange people, I like scrapbooking. I do. And it looks like it would be a nice and FUN show. Not going.
2. Connect 06. It's a teachers thing that our denomination is promoting. Not going.
3. something else that I can't think of right now.
4. Means I"m skipping out on teaching Sunday School this weekend, which means my student will miss out as well.

And for some reason...I still want to go.

Jim worked hard this week, despite his miserable cold (which I know is miserable because I'm still getting completely over it). BUT he was unable to fix my car (Jamie) so that means I have to drive the van (Quinn) to Toronto...and I'd rather have my own car...and I'm still wanting to go. Go figure that eh?

So...I'll go. I'll stay at a friends house so I don't have as far to drive. I'll figure out how to get there. AHH!!!!

I'll leave our son at my mom and dad's for the weekend. That should be fun for them.

Jim will stay home and get better and take care of the dogs and work and be all alone. He's not looking forward to that but he still says... GO. And then he adds... It will be good for you.

So ...will it be good for me? Will I learn more of the great God that I serve? Hope so. :)

And The Boy Surpised me

Today Justin surprised me. We were getting ready to go for a walk and I asked him if he was going to bring black cat or Collie. And from the door I heard "col-col". And off he trotted to get his beloved collie. I hadn't expected an answer...I just expected him to go get whatever he wanted. So it was kinda cool. :)

It was cute. We went to the Pet Store today. A new one opened up downtown so we just had to go check it out. They had the usual hamsters, fish etc. And at the back of the store was this fluffy young Himalayan kitten. :) OH BOY!!!! Was the look on Justin's face. Off he trotted. This kitten just made his day, because Justin stuck a finger through the bars and this kitten rubbed back and forth along that finger. Justin was just delighted! A cat that likes him! :)

And I surprised Justin. While Justin was napping I took the opportunity to clean the fish out and then move them around. Justin woke up just as I was almost done. So I brought him downstairs so he could observe me while I finished. But oh no!!! Mommy moved MIDAS!!!!! Talk, talk, talk, talk and point point point. This little boy was so taken aback at the nerve I had! I MOVED HIS FISH!!!!!!!! Justin just couldn't get over it. Even when I brought the bright gold fish in from outside and put them in Midas' old tank, Justin was just pointing and talking about Midas being moved! That boy....has a real love-hate relationship with that fish. :)

Update on Feeding our Dogs

As you know, our dogs are being fed a B.A.R.F. diet.

It's going well.

Riley, our senior dog, has the most trouble adapting to this diet. We learned with him, that he needs his food frozen so that he would scarf it down without chewing! We learned that he needs beer in order to keep his tummy working well. Three times a week he gets 1/3 to 1/4 can of beer.

Sassy likes her food in small pieces. She is VERY particular about her food. She learned that fruit is once again something to be enjoyed! Now if only I can keep her OUT of the raspberry bushes!

They get fed twice a day. Between 8-10 a.m. and between 630-830 p.m.

Morning meal: Riley gets 1/3 cup heaping of organ meats. Sassy gets 1/3 cup even of organ meats. Twice a week they each get a half cup. With this they get a 1/2 cup of schlump.

Schlump is a ground up mix of all types of veggies: carrots with their tops, turnips, lettuce, swiss chard, tomato (sparingly), cucumber, zucchini, bell pepper, beets or whatever I have on hand. Generally speaking 1/2 is leafy veggie, and the rest a mix of whatever I have. More above ground veggie than below. I also throw in 1-2 apples (depending on size) or a banana. SOMETIMES they are lucky (at least in Sassy's mind) because I'll give them cut up melon. I also put in all the egg shells from the week and have recently started adding some oil as I think they need something just a bit more, I'm hoping to add cod liver oil for the winter months (just need to find in bulk).

To this morning mix they also get all of Justin's leftovers from the day before. Yum Yum!

At night they get raw meat. As mentioned earlier...Riley's comes frozen. 8-10 oz. Sassy's is nicely in smallish chunks 10-12 oz.

They are both at a good weight. Sassy could stand to loose another couple of pounds. Riley shouldn't lose any more SO... twice a week Riley gets Sassy's portion and vice versa.

They have both nicely blown out their coats. They look shinier and nicer than ever!

We took canned fish out of their diets as they both consistently had diarrhea with it. And I figured I did NOT want to deal with that (and figured they didn't want to either).

What the dogs don't like is
1. empty food bowls! Riley grew up ALWAYS having food available, now it's not.
2. Sundays. They only get one meal. At night. And it's just a larger portion of their morning meal with yogurt and oatmeal added. All they get in the morning is ONE LOUSY dog cookie!
3. they have to SIT before I feed them, and
4. they are tied up to eat. Sassy doesn't mind, Riley hates it since he eats faster and likes to steal Sassy's food.

So what do I like about this diet?
1. Dogs are healthier
2. Sassy LIKES to eat now.
3. Easy to adjust if dog is a bit over or under weight or going to work hard (i.e. Sassy at a trial gets more the night before/morning of)
4. Costs about the same as feeding mid-range kibble
5. Riley occasionally plays again
6. Easy to vary what goes into diet to avoid allergy issues.

What don't I like?
1. more labour intensive with meal prep, clean up etc.
2. harder to travel with
3. hubbie dislikes feeding it himself, BUT likes that they are on it.

So that's our update on our dogs and their new eating patterns.

1, 2, 3, 4 .......

So how many teeth do you think a 14 month old boy should have?

1? 6? perhaps even..... 8?

Well, let me tell you...this boy of mine thinks that having TEN teeth is a really good idea!

6 on top
4 below.

AND THEY ARE SHARP LITTLE TALONS TOO!

He got them September 7, 2006.

Recently Read books

"Life of Pi," by Yann Martel

This book was interesting to read. I"m part of a book club at the local library. Not that I've ever been able to attend a meeting yet, but I'm at least a reading member. This book had some funny lines, some very questionable theology, and I left wondering if Pi made up the whole story, OR if things really happened as people at the end of the book. Not entirely sure. Here's a review of it that I found on-line. It's not a bad read. Check it out.


Kit's Law by Donna Morrissey.

This overview sums up this book fairly well

Overview:
Kit Pitman is fourteen and lives in a ramshackle cottage on the outer banks of Newfoundland, where isolation is all she knows. The only visitors are fogbound fishermen and an occasional young man brought ashore to keep the bloodlines clean. But Kit's isolation is compounded by the mystery that surrounds her family and her illegitimate birth. Her mother, Josie, is mentally retarded and often runs wild among the clapboard houses that dot the shore. Meanwhile, her grandmother Lizzie staunchly guards them both from the disapproving glances pious townsfolk cast their way. But when Lizzie dies suddenly, Kit and her childlike mother are left vulnerable to life's harsh realities and to unexpected dangers that repeatedly threaten to break them apart.

It's not the type of book that I normally read. I found it fascinating to follow Kit's growth as she matured. She found a "peace" of sorts by the end of the book. Unfortunately, it wasn't a peace found in God, in fact, religion was seen in a fairly negative light in this book. But somehow her story was fascinating.


Outgrowing the Ingrown Church by C. John Miller
Now this book is a GOOD book. Talks about how people (primarily pastors) can change what they are doing, and what their focus is, and influence their congregations for the glory of God. How pastors can put the gospel message into everything they do.

I'll write more on this book at another time, in a separate post as it deserves to be properly chatted about. :) In the meantime, here's one review and another review and one last one here.

Justin has a cold

So our boyo Justin has yet another cold. This I think makes cold number one in about 2 (maybe 3) months... he had at least four over the winter.

No, I'm not particularly surprised since we were out and about a lot when we went camping and he is at that stage where EVERYTHING has to be mouth-tested.

This one is NOT a fun cold. Lots of mucous and irritable tempers and so forth.

On the good side, when he sleeps, he sleeps good.
On the bad side, when he coughs...he coughs hard and wakes up. Which makes the sleeping a bit more of a challenge when the Dimetapp wears off.

AND even more good news..... JIM HAS CAUGHT JUSTIN'S COLD!

No... not good news...just scratchy throat news and hopes that it's not going to affect his preaching in the morning AND his sleep tonight!

JUSTIN WITH THE SEALS

Here is some video of Justin with the seals during out trip to the Toronto Zoo.

Vacation Report

If you want to read about our vacation, I blogged it over here.

If you want to know about two books that Jim has recently read you can find that here.

Cheers!