A Funny Thing Happened the Other Day... a Very Funny Thing

What Kind of Chocolate Are You?

Time for a study break-more on that later-so here's a cute little quiz for you to take. How do you think I did? Make sure to let me know what kind of chocolate you are, too. Now, off to find some dark chocolate. I know I have some hidden somewhere!

You are White Chocolate

You are White Chocolate You are sweet, caring, and truly very innocent. Whether your naive ways are a bit of act or not, people like to take care of you. You are a quiet flirt, and your power is often underestimated!

What Kind of Chocolate Are You?

SURPRISE!!!!!

And what a surprise it was! Over a month until her official 13th Birthday, our Drama Queen had the surprise of her life when she opened the front door to surprise her Mama with her new outfit and jewelry (gifts from Grammy, for this very purpose, although she did not know it at the time) and 13 girlfriends greeted her! It's 3 days later and I'm still amazed at how we pulled it off and how surprised she truly was-check out her face in case there's any doubt. She was shaking and screaming for nearly half an hour afterwards. But the fun didn't end with the surprise, as we had turned our home into an American Idol set!
The girls competed through four rounds to the finals for $100 Grand and a new '08 Ford Focus and, while it was a SINGING competition, it wasn't all about talent. "America" (little sis, Mo) voted by drawing contestants' numbers for eliminations and for taking turns as the judges. The talent overflowed from the contestants, judges, and even Ryan Seacrest (little bro, Mijo).

We took a short break from the competition for her 5 layer chocolate cake from Costco (side note here-if you haven't tried it, you are missing out on one of the greatest indulgent pleasures of your life, and I don't care for cake!) and presents, but quickly resumed the competition for the finals. The DQ wowed us with an on your feet performance of I Love Rock N Roll and took home the big prize for the night. No, we did not plan for her to win, but can you imagine a better ending to her night?

Letter Reversal...Maybe a Little Too Funny?

My girls taped this over our doorbell, recently, while we were finishing up our last lessons for school, so the neighborhood children would stop incessantly ringing our doorbell. I must add here that this was on one of Dad's days off, while he was sick in bed. Notice the top right portion, where M attempted to write dad. Does anyone else read /bA - B/ (baby)? I hope you see the humor here, too=)

What Kind of Coffee Girl Are You?

You Are a Plain Ole Cup of Joe

But don't think plain - instead think, uncomplicated You're a low maintenance kind of girl... who can hang with the guys Down to earth, easy going, and fun! Yup, that's you: the friend everyone invites. And your dependable too. Both for a laugh and a sympathetic ear.

What Kind of Coffee Girl Are You?

Merry Christmas& Happy New Year!

Wishing you all the joy of Jesus Christ this season and all year through.

In His Love,
The Hunter Family

Just Keep Swimming

I'm not sure what I was watching earlier this week, but on came Dory singing one of my favorite songs, although it seems to have become quite a theme in my life right now. It's funny how often I find myself singing like Dory, convincing myself to trust God and just keep swimming. While I'm glad we are not facing any health crises of our own, I've had too many friends go through big things lately to know this, it still is not easy to face these stones that have been set in our path. Just Keep Swimming!

Thanks for all the prayers for my shoulder. It WAS a bit better, but then I took a big spill in my garage this afternoon. I was in a hurry and didn’t see the bag of toys destined for the Goodwill in front of me and I tripped over it, catching myself on a bike and bouncing off the van to the ground. So, now it’s not just the shoulder, but the hip, the head, the wrist, the knee, and the ankle, as well as some other scrapes and bruises! Just Keep Swimming!

But that is not the beginning. This happened on top of an otherwise already bad day. That’s the true prayer request. Delicately put, we are engaging in a battle with our mortgage company, AGAIN, and were informed today to hire an attorney. This is a long story that goes back many years, but because our loan was bought during the midst of the previous court proceedings it seems we are in the midst of the same familiar battle that cost us so much before, and I don’t mean just financially. It’s a scary place to be in, but we are trusting God that the truth will be revealed and we will be able to rectify this. It’s just a difficult process and it means a lot of long hours for me pulling records, making copies, writing letters, and if need be, filing court motions. Hmm, and I’m not even a paralegal! Just Keep Swimming!

So, on top of the many “bad news” phone calls today and a lack of sleep from DH's snoring, again, and trying to manically take care of my laundry while listening to DH on the phone (to be ready with paperwork as needed), and teaching M her math lesson, I accidentally threw the vinyl liner for M’s mattress in the dryer with her sheets and turned it on high. Just Keep Swimming!

Basically, I melted it completely inside my dryer. So much so, that when I remembered it and asked Sam to grab it out quickly, she couldn’t find it! It had shrank and adhered itself to the back wall of the dryer. So, I ruined the dryer. Just Keep Swimming!

I tried scraping as much off as I could, but there are still a lot of streaks of vinyl adhered to the wall that don’t want to budge. I thought maybe I could throw an old towel or sheet in and set it on high again and see if it will stick to it instead of the wall, but I’m afraid it will start a fire. And after all that my sister's family has gone through after the fire in her garage, that is a very real concern to me right now. Any other suggestions? Just Keep Swimming!

Oh, and the refrigerator door, that’s been dying a slow and painful death for over a year has finally died. And the replacement part costs almost as much as a cheap new fridge! Just Keep Swimming!

OK, now time for the silver linings (Thanks Sally for being an example to us all):

1. DH has really stepped up and made all the necessary phone calls, and even kept his facts straight, without my having to write him notes while he was on the phone.
2. We are pulling together as a family to help one another do whatever it takes to get through this, kids included.
3. I did not start a fire!
4. We are all healthy, minus my banged up and bruised body, which will heal.
5. It's Christmas time and this year I can truly rejoice in Jesus' birth- my hope lies in His life.

Just Keep Swimming!