Challenges or Blessings?

TomAtoes or Tomatoes?

So we all know

"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know whatchya gOne-na get"
&
"when it hands you lemons...
you make lemonade."


The more I study the scriptures the more readily I accept and welcome the challenges the Lord let's us endure.
Let's rewind a few weeks and I'll splain:

It started with the loss of my iPhone
I've never really been into "the latest and greatest"
or been one to get attached to such.
But since it only cost 1 Euro when we arrived here, I thought "why not."
My phone was awesome.
Then it took a bath.

Next:
my spillage issues follow me to the computer keyboard.
$180 later, we're on our 3rd.

Next, the endeavor to potty-train Afton at 19months.
I knew I'd be house-bound for a good week or more.
No biggie.
Suck it up.
Do my workouts at home.

Stalk-call people

Bring travel potty with me in the back of the car for the grocery trips.

Our 2 daily outings would be walking Porter to and from school.

TOTALLY do-able.


Until you lock yourself out of the house w/ car keys but no house key on the ring...
in the snow...
no wallet...
no cell phone...
and still don't have your husband's contact numbers memorized.
:)

So what's to be done?
Bring the white-trash to Germany!
Knock on my neighbor's door...
wake her from her nap and ask to use her internet so I can send an S.O.S. to the hubby.
Have her feed my child who still hasn't eaten lunch,
and let us use the potty.

Nicht so schlimm.


Same Day: Family-mobile died.

2 Days later: our 2nd car broke-down.

No prob.
We were even laughing still at this point!
What more can be thrown our way that can't be handled with a little prayer!?

Com'mon, try us!

But SRSLY. In the midst of it, these two AWESOME missionaries told Luke they'd be over to fix our car and make us dinner!

SAY WHUT!?!
They pretty much Rock!

Here's the Chef/babysitter:

And this is the Mechanic/babysitter:



The night the missionaries came to fix the car, Afton was just not herself. So cranky.
Which by 4p.m. was making for a cranky ME.

Turns out, that was her first night with....
The Chicken Pox

She didn't want to pose for a picture because she said this was her
"bad side."
And I said, "Oh, sweety, every side is bad when you have
the pox of a chicken!
You need to smile and let me document this for posterity."

So then she made this face and said "Hey. it's all I got.":
{Guess that's the picture that will live on for generations.}

And...

"WHAT. You don't ride scooters naked while wearing socks a
nd begging for your daddy's cereal?"
It totally helps when you have the Pox of a Chicken!

At least we've already had the Swine flu here.
Cause who knooooooooooows what she'd be doing!...

running across the street wearing only a mask?


Next:
Our computer caught a MEAN virus and crashed hard.
BAD, Sony, BAD!
Why can't you be a good boy like our lil' Apple?


We've got AWESOME friends!
I called computer 9-1-1 and rushed my computer over where this amazing guy worked day and night to save our Vaio.
He said we almost lost her...
THANKS, Jeff!!!
(and Laura, for watching the kiddos while he worked even longer hours!)

Let's face it.
REAL stressers aren't fun blogging material. :)
As with anyone, the most challenging "stressers" have been unseen to the outside.
It has just seemed to hit all at once.


I have a stronger testimony that God lives.
He answers prayers.
I have 3 scriptures in the Book of Mormon that have given me strength through trials this past year:

Mosiah 4:9
"Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend."

Alma 32:21
"...faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true."

Ether 12:4&6
"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God."
"And now, I, Moroni, would speak concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."

What gives YOU strength through trials?

Now Accepting Donations

No, we're not living in a 3rd world country
&
No, my husband is not out of work
&
No, we don't promote cross-dressing
&
No,
Luke no longer wears his man-boob-ventilation shirts with his surfing cap.
He tried to wear one of these shirts that doubles as a pasta-strainer to church one time and that is where I was forced to put my size 10 foot down!

So I don't know WHERE Porter gets this:

Disclaimers:
A: My 3yro is not still wearing diapers
B: I realize that was the worst head-cropping job on the planet. But the REAL pictures of Luke in his sexy-beast-mesh-top might have ruined his career.
C: Jon George is a name he named his froggy over a year ago!
It is the name of one of my best college friends!?
I still have no idea how he came to name his frog "Jongeorge!"
:)

What are YOU up to?

'Cause we're hiding from Sharks and Monsters.

&

Pumping some serious iron so we can beat them up!

Just Weave

Oh how far he's come!
Last week after arriving at kindergarten, Porter had barely taken his boots off and gotten into his "house shoes" before he started playing "grocery store" with the other kids.
He then looks up and says:
"okay, weave."
(Translation: leave)
Me: "what?"
Porter: "just weave."

OUCH.
and at the same time,
YAY!

Lemme splain.
It's taken 3 months for him to go
From:
gripping my leglike a koala grips a tree trunk
and screaming "DON'T WEAVE ME!"
(I have to say though,
I'd be screaming too if I had a "woman" (?) principal
sporting a curly mullet and saying things like
"Porter let's go do thum-thing togetha")
...
I'm just sayin'

To:
"Just weave."

Which reminds me...
Weevils.
Are weEVIL!
I'm disgusted.
Sick.Nast.
(can you see 'em?)
I've never dealt with these ugly muggers.
After reading up on them, it looks like my food storage will now be looking at me from the inside of a dumpster.
The tainted boxes have been traced to my purchases here.
I CURSE the commissary!


(the first box we opened was a bajillion times worse...it should have been called "weevils with some pasta" instead of "penne pasta". But I was too busy screaming like a girl to think to capture the little muggers on camera.)

Christmas

What better time to post about Christmas than on a Sunday in February, right?
Same focus...
Same theme...
Same happy, smiley faces...
(Here they're waiting for Daddy to get the room picture-ready)

...and I realize it looks like I keep my children in a monkey cage, but really.
It's just an unfriendly German staircase with a babygate that cost me my next born child.

So Christmas started later than usual this year.
I like to start decorating after Halloween.
We didn't get decorations up until the first part of December!
{Gasp}
But alas, we made the most of it.
We bought our first REAL Christmas tree and decorated it as a family
in whites and golds
...my FAVE!
I got to hang all of my hand-made garland and wreaths which always gives me a tingly feeling,
we participated in some Christmas programs,
&
Daphne and I decided to choose one Saturday to just bake.
And we baked for 13hours to put together a
deliciously lovely arrangement for neighbors and friends which had the following:
Coconut Cream Macaroons
German Chocolate Cookies
White Chocolate Pecan Toffee
Lemon Sugar Cookies with a Lime Icing
Raspberry Almond Thumb Cookies
&
Cake Pops


You're probably starting to ask yourself
"where are all the pictures of these so-called events and gorgeous decorations?"

Well, I'll tell.
We had an unfortunate turn of events...
or our Sony Vaio did anyway.
He crashed, taking our December pictures with him...
a mean little virus got to him.
But, lucky for you, I had 2 pics saved to blogger draft before he succumbed.
:)
The 2nd of which is of total scrumptiousness.
Be forewarned, though, just looking at this picture
may magically make you increase one pant size...
or more.

Just sayin'.

...(sigh) I feel my back-side growing as I drool over this picture again.


Either way, we had a wonderful Christmas.
Our 1st Christmas NOT traveling to see family.
Although we missed our loved ones,
It was nice just spending it with our little family and free of travel-stress!

Numbers, Letters, and Mazes

That's what we're doing in this household when we're not playing or poopin',
and he's not at German Kindergarten.

And this is what I found in our basement playroom tonight:

How is it that his hand-writing looks better than Luke's!?!

...he's 3!

Baby It's Cold Outside

This was the calm before the storm:

And this was the foot of snow that fell within a few hours:

And this is one of the munchkins who put it to good use: