J - J - J - J - J - J

Jaquith - Yesterday Becky and I braved the hot weather and did mid-afternoon strawberry picking out at Jaquith Farms. Last year she picked much more quickly than I did, but I was working around a 7 month pregnant belly. I thought that my belly being in the way was slowing me down. Well, I'm not 7 months pregnant right now and she still smoked me. I'm convinced that she just got a better row to pick from. I love efficiency too much to believe that I could be a slow berry picker. Whether she is fast or I am slow, we had a great time chatting and picking and overheating. Between the two of us we got 33 pounds of berries. We'll use ours for freezer jam, freeze some for smoothies, and dehydrate some for granola.




Job - Though some of you already know this, I'll make an official announcement. Tim was offered a permanent contract at SK Online, so the one-year temporary contracts are over. He's still probationary for one more year, but it's nice to have a permanent contract.

Jokes - I let the boys each come up with a joke for the blog today.

Silas:
Q: Why did the chicken cross the street?
A: Because he wanted to go to the store quicker.

Devon:
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Tennis
Tennis who?
Tennis-see (Tennessee)

Devon said now you all need to laugh, laugh, laugh.

AND MY DAD OUTDID ME AGAIN

I'm ok with being outdone though. My dad's birthday blog for Silas has pics throughout Silas' first 18 months or so. Cute stuff!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SILAS!!

CAN I WEAR JEANS?

That's the name of a new site that launched today. It's done by the same guy who does Stuff Christians Like. It's a place to give and read descriptions of churches. He has it broken down by countries and American states with specific questions to answer. Pretty neat idea for those who are looking for a church!! Descriptions from the people that attend the church are going to be way more real than ones by the church office. So, go describe your church!!

PARTY TIME!!

We celebrated Silas and Devon's birthday yesterday and had a great time! Becky took a ton of fabulous pictures of the event. I went through all of them saying "oh, I love that one" and "that's great" and "what a cute picture". She really did a great job photographing some really cute kids. Go check out her album to see the party. You can click through them individually or set it to a slideshow.

My dad has a play by play of the party, including pictures, on his blog.

Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us and to Becky for capturing the event on camera!!

TIME FOR WAR

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. The Weathersby family went to war. Shots were fired. Warriors were injured. Artillery was sneakily eaten. We had a marshmallow war!!

If you think your family would enjoy having a similar battle, then check out this site to learn how to make your gun. They cost us about $3.00 each.

NINE YEARS AGO - THE PICS

Tim, the posing groom

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Bethany, the posing bride

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The smoocher

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The smirker

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Bruce (Bethany's dad), Bethany, Tim, Linda (Tim's mom) - Needless to say, people who don't know our families always think this is a picture of Tim and I with my parents.

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Bruce giving his blessing - You can read his blessing in the "NINE YEARS AGO - THE WORDS" post. You can also read his blog post for today right here.

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Linda giving Tim's ring - Tim came up with the idea of having his mom bring me the ring for his finger and my dad bringing Tim the ring for my finger. I've never seen that at any other wedding and I loved it!

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Kissing for the camera - Maybe it's vanity, but I love my hair in this picture! So, I'll take this opportunity to thank my parents for the genetic makeup that gave me curls and my sister for making them look so good that day.

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The newlyweds

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The carriage ride - This was a gift from a friend who blessed us with the one thing on our wedding wish list that we ran out of money for, a carriage ride for the girls up the park before the wedding and for Tim and I down the park after the wedding.

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The cake - It was beautiful!! My friend Sonja did all the floral arrangements and it was exactly how I envisioned it to be.

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An unexpected visitor - As we're mingling with guests during the reception I heard bagpipe music. Confused, I turned to see Murray Huggins walking in. I figured he must have gotten some wires crossed and showed up at the wrong reception. I'm looking all around, trying to figure out what's going on. Then I see a group of my coworkers all grinning. Suddenly everything makes sense. One of the doctors that I worked for was out of town the weekend of our wedding. This same doctor also happened to take bagpipe lessons from Murray. So, as a gift to us, he had Murray stroll in and play some songs. Once we knew that there wasn't some couple in another part of town wondering where their bagpiper was we all enjoyed his visit.

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The hands - I cropped this out of an otherwise lousy picture, making lemonade out of a lemon. I love it!

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NINE YEARS AGO - THE WORDS

Tim's vows - Bethany, today I take you to be my wife. I feel confident that it was God's will that brought us together. I promise to love, honor, and cherish you. It is my earnest prayer that I will be able to provide for your physical needs as Christ has provided for our spiritual needs. Being one in our Lord's sight will always make me share myself completely with you. Bethany, as we turn to the future together, whether it means in prosperous or difficult times, we will continue to seek God's will for our lives.


Bethany's vows - Tim, today I take you to be my husband. I am confident that God has brought us together as part of his eternal will for our lives. With God's help I promise to love, cherish, honor, and obey you. I will trust you to provide for your physical needs even as Christ provides for our spiritual needs. My earnest prayer is that I will be completely open with you, sharing all my thoughts and feelings, that we might be truly one as God intended. And as one we will continue to seek God's will for our lives together.


Ring ceremony - This ring I have to you in token and pledge of our constant faith and abiding love. I join you in our promises and doubly seal our vows. I declare in in the presence of these witnesses, and before God, that I take you as my wife/husband. I love you and I will always be faithful to you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.


Dad's blessing - Bethany, during the summer that your mother and I got married, we decided to start having a family right away. One year and six days after our wedding I was sitting in a hospital waiting room at about two o'clock in the morning. I remember hearing an elevator door open and from that elevator I remember hearing a crying baby.

That baby was the fruit of the love that existed between your mother and me. You were a gift from God. And we named you Bethany after a town that was a special place in the life of Jesus. Our hope in naming you Bethany was that Jesus would have special place in your life.

So, your mother and I committed ourselves to bringing you up to know Jesus Christ in a personal way, to love Him, and to follow him all the days of your life. And that is what you have done. You have taken the torch of faith - passed from mother to daughter and passed from father to daughter - and today you are entering marriage as a follower of Jesus Christ. I want you to know, Bethany, that your mom would be very proud of you today. And I also want you to know that I am very proud of you today.

My most cherished memories of you are not memories from your early childhood, but memories from your teenage years when you were in high school. I clearly remember this daughter of mine who would finish her school day, then go to work for a couple of hours after school, then come home in the evening to a father who was usually sitting alone in the living room - to a father who was struggling with his recent widowhood. And you would sit on the floor beside me and you spend hours talking to me about whatever you felt like talking about.

I don't know of too many men who have been blessed with teenage daughters who have enjoyed just sitting around and talking with their dads. I was one of the lucky ones. And you will never know, Bethany, just how much those times encouraged me during a period in my life when I really needed encouraging. And now you are all grown up and now you will be able to be a blessing to another lucky man. I believe you are good for Tim and I believe Tim is good for you. And I give you my blessing.

Tim, I knew about you before I ever knew you. I still remember the message left on my answering machine over two years ago. It was the familiar voice of my older daughter. She said, "Hi, Dad! I just called to tell you something I've never been able to tell you before. I have a boyfriend!" She was excited, Tim. You had stirred my daughter's heart.

I could tell you many things about Bethany - her strengths, her weaknesses, the unique qualities that make her who she is. But the only thing want to tell you now, Tim, is that Bethany really loves you. And I also want you to know that I love you too.

Today I will become your father-in-law. But beyond that, I want you to know that if you ever need me to just be your friend, that I will be your friend. And you ever need some advice about marriage, I will be glad to tell you a love story about a girl named Barbara and a guy named Bruce and how we learned to build a marriage together on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

But today I'm not going to give you advice about marriage. I'm going to give you a gift. And I want you to receive this gift as though it were a precious gem - because my gift to you is a precious gem. I'm giving you my daughter's hand in marriage. And I'm trusting you, Tim, to take care of my daughter from now on. I'm confident that you will. And I give you my blessing.

I - I - I - I - I - I

Imaginary - This is my imaginary conversation:

Me: I'm glad I'm your mom.
Silas: I'm glad I'm your son.

Or ...

Me: I'm glad I'm your mom.
Silas: I'm glad you're my mom too.

I was comfortable with him speaking his lines seriously or in a lighthearted manner. I'm just flexible like that. Here's the actual conversation:

Me: I'm glad I'm your mom.
Silas: I'm glad I know so much math.

He's such a sentimental sap!


Indecision - Tim and I are facing a decision right now. One option makes the most sense financially, but would cost our family in other ways. Another option makes the least sense financially, but would benefit our family in other ways. The third option is somewhere in the middle financially and in other ways. I've spent a lot of time in tears the last few days. It's stressing me out. There's just no obvious answer. Any choice we make is going to be hard, whether emotionally or on more practical and tangible levels. Please pray for us to be wise in our decisions.


Internationals - Before I had my clustrmap (and, by the way, it drives me batty when people intentionally spell the name of their product incorrectly) I would click on my site meter and then click on "by location" to see where my readers are from. I still do that, along with clicking on all sorts of other information in my site meter. Having the visual of the map has been fun though. I didn't realize how many international readers I had. I know of a few ... the McCourtneys in Uganda, the Moffits in the Philippines, and the Andersons in New Zealand. Who are the rest of you? Leave a comment and tell us who and where you are!!

FATHER'S DAY - 2008

Some stinkin' cute kids with their favorite dad.

A BLOG YOU MUST READ

After you look at my next two blog entries you must go read my Dad's two most recent ones. He has shown me up in a major way!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEVON - 2008

WATCH YOUR MOUTH

I was reading in Ephesians this morning and came across a verse that I have underlined. Considering that I blasted my kids more than once yesterday, reading the verse today was very timely.

Ephesians 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Is anything unwholesome coming out of your mouth? Are your words hateful or vulgar? Are you gossiping? Is your tone of voice nasty? Do you whine and complain a lot?

Are your words building others up and meeting their needs? Are you sensitive to what those around you need to hear? Are you quick to give compliments? Do you speak words of encouragement to those who are struggling?

Do your words benefit those who listen? Are people better off for having listened to you? Is there a positive purpose in the words you speak?

H - H - H - H - H - H

Hillbilly Housewife - I first learned about the Hillbilly Housewife site from the Sonlight forums. It's filled with recipes and ideas that help you to be frugal with your grocery budget. We tried the kettle corn recipe last week and it is so good!!! I ate way more than I should have and enjoyed every single compulsive bite that I took.

Homeschooling - We finished up our second year of homeschooling on Friday, which makes this our first week of vacation. I was ready for a break, so we actually did a little cramming and finished a week early. We'll take the rest of this month off, then start up again in July. The boys are excited to get started on next year's books.

Humor - What makes you laugh? I've put Stuff Christians Like into my blog reader and it makes me laugh every single day. I know I've mentioned it a lot lately, but it's just so funny that I can't stop talking about it. We also got some chuckles out of Thou Shalt Laugh - The Deuce. We've got Thou Shalt Laugh on our library reserve list. What about you? Please, oh pretty please, leave some comments listing the movies, books, songs, or anything else you can think of that make you laugh. And, one more time, SCL is stinkin' funny.

FREE ADVERTISING #4

Here's a heads up on some ways to spend your money. We'll start with the big ticket item and work down to the small purchase. Ready?

Tim (not mine, obviously) and Shanna are selling their house in Newberg. For those thinking about moving to the Portland area, but unfamiliar with the area, Newberg is about 40 minutes from Portland. Shanna's blog has some pics of the house to start you off with. Intrigued? Then go to RMLS and punch in 8055870 to see more pics and info.

Matt and Bri moved and ran out of room for some of their furniture. Why do you care? Because if you live in the Portland area then you could buy their loveseat!!

I'm hooked on knit dishcloths ever since Kelly made some for me. Well, Kristal sells dishcloths, along with other knit items like shopping bags and felted diaper bags. Super cute stuff!!

And now I better go make breakfast.

IDENTIFY THIS PHOTO

Stuck? Can't figure it out? Then you must live in my neck of the woods. It's a shadow. Unfamiliar with that term? Here is a little help from Merriam-Webster:

1shad·ow

1: partial darkness or obscurity within a part of space from which rays from a source of light are cut off by an interposed opaque body

Too technical? Ok, let me break it down for you. A shadow is a dark spot caused by something blocking light.

So, back to the photo. The dark spot is the shadow. I am the interposed opaque body. The source of light is the sun. Yes, you read that correctly. Ladies and gentleman, we had sunshine today!! Unbelievable. We will return to our extended spring tomorrow, but we had temps in the low 70s today. It was glorious!!

G - G - G - G - G - G

Gadgets - This may be a bit of a "G" stretch, but it's my blog and I'm going for it. I realize that measuring spoons may not be considered gadgets, but we're going with it. Now, let me tell you that for the last year or so I've had one tablespoon, one half teaspoon, and one quarter teaspoon. It's not that hard to buy a new set, but I always forget. Anyway, I was at Dollar Tree the other day to pick up cheap ziploc bags for puzzles (that's the best way to store puzzles, in case you wondered) and walked by these little guys. Are they cute or what?! I don't know if they're so cheap because the person in charge of colors accidentally made two of them the same color or what, but I love them! They're fun. They're bright. They're cheery. And they come in a variety of sizes. Just ignore the glow coming from the two middle ones and pretend like this is a professional picture, okay?

Go Fish! - We've been playing a lot of this game lately. It's perfect for killing small amounts of time or helping two young boys to sit still for "just one more round". About 80% of our games are won by the same person. Sometimes in the first turn. Sometimes after several turns. Hands down, Devon is the master of Go Fish! in our family. The absolute champion.

Growth - Despite the fact that we've had about three hours of sun in the last two or three weeks (and you'll know which pic was taken on that day) there are actually some seeds sprouting in the garden.

Lettuce

Morning Glory

Corn

Pumpkin

Pea

Cosmos

THE Ws ARE NOT WELL

Let me preface this by saying that Tim has never skipped work because of illness in the rest of the fam. He's offered a couple times but I've always managed to get through the day on my own. That changed this morning. He's staying home to play doctor to the rest of us. He is Dr. Tim.

Me - I'm on day four of pinkeye. The first three days appeared to be viral, which means I have to wait it out. During the night it moved to the second eye and added a little goo. It may be bacterial now.

Silas - He actually just ended a three night stretch of fever and headache in the evening, though his days were limited to a mild cough. He still has a bit of a cough.

Devon - He came down with a fever and headache last night. He's still sick today.

Naomi - She had a little cough on Sunday, snot on Monday morning, and a mild fever Monday afternoon. She had a hard time sleeping last night and is a little needy.

Now, I've made a commitment to try not to complain these days. So I'll give the positive spin. I'm getting LOTS of snuggles from my kids!!

F - F - F - F - F - F

Failure - How do you deal with personal failure? Cry or give up? Take a new approach or have a meltdown? What if your intentions are good and you're trying your best, but it's just not good enough? I've been trying to deal with some failures of my own lately and it's hard. Really hard. I have a tendency to try and figure out solutions on my own. While God gave us a mind and a will of our own, he also gave us himself. So, I'm making an effort to spend more time in prayer and less time analyzing. What about you? How do you react when you blow it in some area?

Family Fun - Well, last week I told you about Mandi having six weeks of giveaways. Some of you entered her Baby Legs contest and we'll find out the winner soon. This week she's giving away a one year subscription to two different magazines, Family Fun and Wondertime. I've never read Wondertime, but I love Family Fun! So, go enter the contest and good luck!!

Feed - This has nothing to do with eating and everything to do with blogging. My friend Leslie showed me how to set up a feed reader. Oh, how my life has become easier!! No longer do I spend time hopping around to the blogs I love to see if there are new posts. Instead, I made iGoogle my homepage and added Google Reader to the page. I've added the addresses to the blogs I read regularly to Google Reader and it lets me know when there is something new. I only have to go directly to the blog if I want to make a comment. Now, I realize this isn't exactly a technological newsflash or anything, but it was a new trick for me. As a fan of efficiency, I love Google Reader!!

WHEN YOU'RE HOT, YOU'RE HOT

And when you're not, well, you're not.





I finally finished my week of allergy eyes. I went to bed on Friday night feeling well. I woke up on Saturday morning to a red and swollen eye. It's pretty, isn't it? Just a little itchy, pretty watery, and very puffy. The picture doesn't do a very good job of showing how far the swelling goes below my eye, but such is life. It's hard to capture the full essence of total beauty on camera.

So, I'm staying home with the endcap kiddos, both feeling a little under the weather, and icing my eyeball while Tim and the middle kiddle go to church.

A little sidenote for you before I grab some ice cubes. When one is trying to take a closeup picture of their honkin' eyelids, one will also see just how honkin' their nose is. It's inevitable. It's very hard to get close to the eye without being even closer to the nose. Just sayin'.