freedom!

if the mulders' have set you free, you are free indeed! at least, if you are a tadpole, you are! last night, with a well-placed pond suggestion from our friend andi the artist, we scooped all the tadpoles (there were hundreds, i'm sure!) and drove them out to the pond on our churches new land! hooray! they will live! we saw them swim up to the surface after they were (rather unceremoniously) dumped into the pond, and we saw several large frogs in and around the weeds and grasses, so i have high hopes! and best of all, they are in God's hands now. i no longer feel responsible for their survival...phew! it was killing me to see their little white bellies bobbing around the surface of our pool!

now the pool is bleached and clean, and the girls can spend the last days before school splashing and playing in the beautiful outdoors!

a soapbox moment

after the sorrowful death of 2 more froglets yesterday, i called my naturalist brother, vinny, and asked him what was going on with my tadpoles! needless to say, small dead frogs is not the reason i have lovingly spoken to, fed and watched these tadpoles grow for the last 2 months! so, vinny's advice? more sticks.



do you think that is enough sticks? there were no new footed frogs this morning to test it out on...but how could they possibly miss these?

on other fronts, the leadership conference was great great great! i really took 2 things from it that (i hope!) will filter through the rest of my life. the first is that it really has to be Jesus - i cannot form new life in the women/people i lead, only Jesus can do that. our Church doesn't seem talk about Jesus much - not my little church here in NC, but the big Church. No wonder we have a hard time encouraging our people to have a real friendship with him - he's not part of our everyday conversations of faith. and how weird is that?

secondly, i live a rich life. whether or not we dip into our overdraft, our life is loaded with luxury. and i cannot just sit here and let the good times roll - there is a starving world, a dying world, and i don't have to save it, but i have to do what i can. in our small group last night, the phrase came up (ironically, in relation to sex) 'give what you can', and it's true in the global sense, too. so i am thinking about what i can do. sponsor fieldtrips for underprivileged kids in my daughters schools, continue to sponsor children overseas, keep granola bars for homeless people in my truck, wisely give my resources where i can by parterning with organizations already doing good in the world, whether it be world vision or the one campaign or the red cross. if i want to hear 'well done', i can't just live an insular life.

oh no!

i am horrified! the froglets are starting to develop, but rather than grab onto the logs/buckets in the pool, i find them floating belly up in the pool in the mornings! this is not what i wanted! i am taking any and all suggestions.... help me!

i'm a grown up now

i don't care what the critics say - i loved miami vice! we went to see it last night, and both curtis and i really liked it!! it is smart, complicated, sexy and not full of foul language or breasts...although, when someone gets shot (even that is not too often) you definately know whether or not they were hit! i think if you like movies, you'll like this one! one thing the critics got right, this is not your adolecent miami vice - this is grown up, sexy real miami vice. not a pastel in sight - mercifully if you ask me!

ok - i am heading to the willow creek leadership conference this week, so don't expect much by way of posting... i will have many insights to share when i come home, though, i'm sure! :)

happy week!

happy anniversary!

happy anniversary to me! today is our 12th anniversary, and in typical mulder fashion, it's off to a slow start - no presents, no plans! but, we do have a babysitter for tonight (not sure what we're going to do), and in the long run, having been married 12 years, i can testify (since it's sunday) that the truth of the matter is it's not the anniversaries that make or break a marriage. it's your husband finding a friend to help him haul up your new washing machine, sitting on the front porch together watching the girls ride their bikes, road trips together with satisfying or silly conversation, coffee made before i roll out of bed... the fuel of marriage is the little things. and every once in a while, a grand gesture gets thrown in, and the whole thing sparkles again! :)

a whole new attitude

ok - i have almost had it with these demented tadpoles! are they not, at some time, supposed to grow LEGS and HOP AWAY? there does not seem to be a lot of movement toward that in my pool, and you all know how patient i am!! grrr!

and it's so hot that The Girls cannot play outside, and they are driving one another, and me, completely bonkers. BONKERS I TELL YOU!

and today was school supply day - nothing like trying to get The Girls to decide on upon which pair of white sneakers they prefer... it's enough to make a grown woman cry!

this is the point in my life where my dad would usually say that i needed an "attitude adjustment". so... um... what can i focus on? healthy kids that are growing and get to go to school, food in the pantry (generic though it may be), a new bra (funny how much better life looks when your "lifted and seperated"), and a night at home with nothing to do and nowhere to go and (hopefully) peace and quiet. with wine. lovely, sparkling, wine! :)

also, my brother - heretofore known as "Vinny", not "Jordan" - has written and illustrated a lovely book called "The Story of Rufus Newt and Potato Knob". it's very interesting, and educational... i loved it! i would show you a picture, but i can't separate it - i'll have to get curtis to help me with that one.

eating crow

i owe curtis a public apology... he is a marvellous husband and all around human being. he did, infact, have the house clean and dinner ready when we got home. he may have forgotten to scoop the tadpole eggs, but he is practically perfect (like mary poppins) in every other way! i am sorry i doubted you, curtis!