This little guy has talent!

Isaiah is so cute! He is such a happy baby boy. Eileen does such an awesome job raising him. She is a terrific mother. She truly has a very special bond with Isaiah that is just amazing. I am so proud of her!

4 EVER MY LOVE

Wow I can't believe that it will be 5 years that we've been married. It goes by so fast! I love Jay more today than I did the day I said "I do". He is so great!

I miss our summer days!

Our summer was so awesome. We were able to hang out, laugh and enjoy eachothers company for 3 full months every morning, every noon and every night. I don't get some couples who say I couldn't be with my spouse all day, we'd get on eachothers nerves!? I LOVE being with Jay! I could never hang out with him too much. Back in the day, when we use to work together we thought it was wonderful. Being together made work so much more fun and it made the time go by so much faster. We requested to be on the same shifts together. People we worked with would whisper to us separately "don't you hate working together", we'd shout "No, we love it". We couldn't believe people actually could feel that way about their spouse. We hope someday in the future we will again work together daily. The past month has been so sad, Jay works so much and is hardly ever home. It's football season which means his schedule is 6:35-8:00 pm mon-thurs. and till like 11:30 pm on fridays. I miss him and long for our summer days where our biggest worries were..."what should we do today?"

IN GOD WE SHOULD TRUST

This goes back to the Federal Court ruling from Tuesday - ruling the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional!
In light of the many perversions and jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke, it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this happen?" (regarding the attacks on Sept. 11).
Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.
And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"
In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.
Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school . the Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.
Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.
Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing?
Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they WILL think of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in!!

FAMILY

F A M I L Y
I ran into a stranger as he passed by, "Oh excuse me please" was my reply.
He said, "Please excuse me too; I wasn't watching for you."
We were very polite, this stranger and I. We went on our way and we said goodbye.
But at home a different story is told, How we treat our loved ones, young and old.
Later that day, cooking the evening meal, My son stood beside me very still.
When I turned, I nearly knocked him down. "Move out of the way," I said with a frown.
He walked away, his little heart broken. I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken.
While I lay awake in bed, God's still small voice came to me and said,
"While dealing with a stranger, common courtesy you use, but the family you love, you seem to abuse.
Go and look on the kitchen floor, You'll find some flowers there by the door.
Those are the flowers he brought for you. He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.
He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise, you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes."
By this time, I felt very small, And now my tears began to fall.
I quietly went and knelt by his bed; "Wake up, little one, wake up," I said.
"Are these the flowers you picked for me?" He smiled, "I found 'em, out by the tree.
I picked 'em because they're pretty like you. I knew you'd like 'em, especially the blue."
I said, "Son, I'm very sorry for the way I acted today; I shouldn't have yelled at you that way." He said, "Oh, Mom, that's okay. I love you anyway."
I said, "Son, I love you too, and I do like the flowers, especially the blue."

FAMILY Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily repla ce us in a matter of days. But the family we left behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.
And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than into our own family, an unwise investment indeed, don't you think? So what is behind the story?
Do you know what the word FAMILY means? FAMILY = (F)ATHER (A)ND (M)OTHER (I) (L)OVE (Y)OU

This is a beautiful photo of a giant flag in Arizona.
The photo is authentic and Untouched.
The picture as taken on a regular Kodak 35mm film.
The person who took the picture couldn't believe the
image created by the suns rays.
Nice of them to share it with the world!

TWO TOUGH QUESTIONS Question 1:If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis,would you recommend that she have an abortion?Read the next question before looking at the response for this one.Question 2:It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote counts. Here are the facts about the three candidates.Candidate A -- Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologists. He's had two mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.Candidate B -- He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in college, and drinks a quart of whiskey every evening.Candidate C -- He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks an occasional beer and never cheated on his wife.Which of these candidates would be your choice? Decide first...no peeking, then scroll down for the response.




Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt.Candidate B is Winston Churchill.Candidate C is Adolph Hitler And, by the way, on your answer to the abortion question:If you said, "YES!" ...you just killed Beethoven.Pretty interesting isn't it? Makes a person think before judging someone. Wait till you see the end of this note! Keep reading ...Never be afraid to try something new ...Remember ... Amateurs built the ark ... Professionals...built the Titanic!And Finally ... can you imagine working for a company that has a little more than 500 employees and has the following statistics:29 have been accused of spousal abuse 7 have been arrested for fraud19 have been accused of writing bad checks117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses3 have done time for assault71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit14 have been arrested on drug-related charges8 have been arrested for shoplifting21 are currently defendants in lawsuits84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year...Can you guess which organization this is?Give up yet? It's the 535 members of the United States Congress. The same group of people that crank out hundreds of new laws each year designed to keep the rest of us in line.

The first night on the ship I made Jay sleep on the floor because the bed was decorated so nicely. Just joking, but it was pretty with coins and beads. It was a kodak moment!

Jay lovin the fruit the Meader Family sent us. We don't know what it's called but it was so good! Click on the picture to enlarge and ANYONE please let us know what that sucker is called!

What a treat! Wow did this make us feel pretty special. It was so great to walk into our TINY little room and see how much we were LOVED by Aunt Cherie, Harry, Morgan and Shannon! It was so beautiful!

YUMMY! My FAVORITE AUNT AND THE MEADER FAMILY SURPRISED US WITH THIS, MY MOUTH WATERS JUST LOOKING AT IT! THIS WAS SUCH AN AWESOME UNEXPECTED TREAT!

We were welcomed to our ship cabin in a very special way! Thanks to the Meader Family!

Swimming with Sea Turtles was FUN!

If you click on the picture you can see me swimming with the sea turtles, gosh so many were all around me. Jay didn't go in because he didn't want to get wet!? Who is this guy I married? I didn't care, I just figured more turtles for me. They were so cute! It was funny the way they would struggle to swim when a huge wave would come and how they would pop their heads up to get air. If you look real close you can see other turtles around me in this photo. The water was very choppy that day so the water looked murky and it was really hard for me and the turtles to swim. But me being the GREAT swimmer I am, it was no problem for me to hang. At that moment I didn't care if I drowned it was worth all the sea water I swallowed, I just kept touching them and couldn't get enough time to watch them.

Happy Anniversary to our very best friends

Happy 4 year anniversary Dave and Eileen! The love you have for eachother is so beautiful. What great examples you two are for your first born child. Isaiah has already received one of the greatest gifts that he will cherish for a lifetime. He has two parents who are in love, happily married and put Jesus Christ first in their marriage before anything else. I hope you have an amazing anniversary, this one is so special because you're no longer only husband and wife, you are parents of a handsome little boy! Congratulations on 4 very happy years of marriage! We love you both so much, and are so thankful to have a couple in our lives that truly understands their marriage vows the way God intended them. We hope you have a great day reminiscing about all the awesome memories you've shared together over the last decade and day dreaming about the many more to come.
Love always,
Jay and Marissa

Me lovin the waterfall

Don't DO IT!

Jay and I have spoiled ourselves...Once you go balcony you can NEVER go back. On our very first cruise we decided to get a ship room with a balcony, we were told that we wouldn't know the difference and to just get the inside stateroom. BUT NO, we had to get the balcony. We loved it, the sea breeze, the fresh ocean smell, our balcony door being open each night, being able to see the beautiful scenery from our bed, oh, and don't forget the great pictures we took! So needless to say we had to get the balcony suite on our Hawaii trip. On this cruise we could have maybe done without the room that cost us double in price because we were hardly ever at sea but always at a port and we were never on the ship. But... I must say it was so cool to brush my teeth AND watch a volcano over flowing with lava at the same time. So I don't think we will ever chance it and save the $1,000's of dollars by not getting the balcony suite because I just might miss a really great teeth brushing experience. So here's a bit of advice that I didn't take...if you go on a cruise it's not necessary to get the balcony suite, just get the inside stateroom, you won't notice the difference at all, you will still have a great time! If you want to look over a balcony, you can do it for no extra cost, just take a minute to walk up a flight of stairs, or even take an elevator up to the next floor and see it for free.
We'll when we stayed in a hotel for a few nights after our cruise, there was no way we were going to stay in a standard room, I mean we had just been starring at the ocean for the 7 days prior. So I told Jay "ask for a complimentary upgrade, and see what they say." Ask and you shall receive, we went from a small room with a view of buildings, to a huge room with an awesome ocean view. We were so happy, it would have been over $500 dollars more if we did it ourselves. We passed some rooms that should have been ours and we were "like no way we deserve the upgraded room"! We have been too spoiled! Now next time we get a hotel room we will think twice about getting a standard room, we'll say "hey, why not, last time we got a bigger, nicer room for free so why not splurge this time if we can't get it complimentary again"!
We are screwed with car rentals too, when I booked us a car I booked an economy car. I mean what does it matter what we drive, we will be in Hawaii. We'll at the first Hawaii island rental car pickup (out of 6 total different days of renting through Dollar Rental), the lady really liked us and gave us a 2 car upgrade complimentary. We should have had an Eco but we were styling instead in a nicer car! Well at the next island we went back and forth about" should we just pay for an upgrade, it's way better and last time we did get it for free! The lady at that place ddin't like us as much and wouldn't upgrade us for free. So, We we stood our ground, we decided being in Hawaii was enough, we didn't need to spend the extra money, the car is just going to get us where we want to go and then we will hardly be in it! Well that lasted until we got in the Eco, we started the car up, sat in the parking lot, then turn off the car and went and paid for a 2 car upgrade! We did that for the rest of our trip! So ultimately they made their money back and some!
We are also ruined for flying, on our way back from Hawaii we asked for exit seats, well the lady went above and beyond, and ultimately hurt us and will cost us $1,000's of dollars in the long run! She upgraded us to premier seating! It changed our life and dramatically improved our flying experience. Sitting in premier makes flying ALMOST fun! What a difference! I don't know what we will do for our next vacation! Trust me, what you don't know will not hurt you, so please just take the cheapest way of vacationing possible and DO NOT ask for a complimentary upgrade, in the long run they will ALL get their money back and some!

DID YOU KNOW?* As you walk up the steps to the building which houses the U.S. Supreme Court you can see near the top of the building a row of the world's law givers and each one is facing eachother, and do you know whose in the middle facing forward with a full frontal view ... it is Moses and he is holding the Ten Commandments!*DID YOU KNOW?*As you enter the Supreme Court courtroom, the two huge oak doors have the Ten Commandments engraved on each lower portion of each door.*DID YOU KNOW?*As you sit inside the courtroom, you can see a wall, right above where the Supreme Court judges sit, with a display of the Ten Commandments!*DID YOU KNOW?*There are Bible verses etched in stone all over the Federal Buildings and Monuments in Washington, D.C.*DID YOU KNOW?*James Madison, the fourth president, known as "The Father of Our Constitution" made the following statement:*"We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."*DID YOU KNOW?*Patrick Henry, that patriot and Founding Father of our country said:"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ".*DID YOU KNOW?*Every session of Congress begins with a prayer by a paid preacher, whose salary has been paid by the taxpayer since 1777.*DID YOU KNOW?*Fifty-two of the 55 founders of the Constitution were members of the established orthodox churches in the colonies.*DID YOU KNOW?*Thomas Jefferson worried that the Courts would overstep their authority and instead of interpreting the law they would begin making law, known as anoligarchy,(the rule of few over many).*DID YOU KNOW?*The very first Supreme Court Justice, John Jay, said:"Americans should select and prefer Christians as their rulers." How, then, have we gotten to the point that everything we have done for 220 years in this country is now suddenly wrong and unconstitutional? The world needs to see and remember what this great country was built on. It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore, it is very hard to understand why there is such a mess about having the Ten Commandments on display or "In God We Trust" on our money and having God in the Pledge ofAllegiance. Why don't we just tell the other 14% to Sit Down and do something else!

Happy Birthday 13th birthday Selena

Today you are officially a teenager, wow do I remember those years, they were some of the best and worst years of my whole entire life. It's amazing how fast you've grown up over the years. You are such a special little girl, I just love having you for my little sis. You are so much fun to be around and you have a way of making me laugh. I often recall my childhood just by watching you. You have always meant the world to me and I've never wanted anything but the very best for you. I remember working daily on your baby book just so it would be perfect for you when you grew up. So you would always have something to cherish and remind you of how loved you've been ALL the days of your life, so you would never have to question it. Although I had to leave you physically when you were young, there was never a day that you weren't in my heart and on my mind. I have always been here for you and always will be. I want you to know and remember when you feel like the whole world is against you and no-one is on your side you can always turn to me, I will always be your biggest fan.
Love, Marissa

On any normal day if I saw this I'd jump out of the water, but on this day I jumped in!

Click on the picture and you can see Jaws up close

The water was so clear in Hawaii

We could see the sharks so well from the boat just by looking down. You should see our under the water photos they are amazing. One of my greatest fears has always been being eaten by a shark, but the odd thing is I've always been so fascinated with sharks. Every time I go to Sea World I must see the sharks or else my trip isn't even worth it. So I decided to conquer my fears and just hop in the water with them, it was great!

Week two of 7th grade science and it's still fun

I really like teaching 7th grade science this year. I enjoy teaching middle school kids, they are an entertaining age group to be around everyday, never a dull moment.

we did a shark encounter where TONS of sharks were swimming around us.

We got into a cage for safety, but it wasn't all that safe, cuz if you accidently let your hand of foot slip through the bars it was very possible that a shark could bite off one of your body parts. Our guide threw bloody raw meat into the ocean to keep them interested. He would actually hold the meat in the air and the sharks would jump up like jaws and rip and tears it out of his hands. Jay was so scared, it wasn't his idea of fun but I told him "I'm going with or without you", and he decided to come. And I think he was glad he did beacuse it was very exciting.

Does this back ground ring a bell?

Do you recognize the backgrounds? No, me either, but Jay does, and so may some of you other buffs out there.

These are some background shots from scenes in Jurassic Park. We learned that they didn't just film on one island, that they filmed on several of the Hawaii islands.

We went riding on ATV'S through tropical rain forrests, tunnels and one of the locations that Jurassic Park was filmed. This was so much fun, it was great to ride through mud puddles and just go crazy.

our atv adventure was a blast!

Horseback riding in Maui was great!

My horse was Jack and Jay's horse was Missy. Jack's girlfriend is Jill and he was really depressed because they made Jill stay behind to rest, so Jack wasn't all that corporative at first. But after I gave him some TLC he started to come alive and became the leader of the pack, he got so crazy that I have to admit I was a little scared. I got so dirty, my blue jeans were covered with red dirt by the end of our ride. My face was filthy, on every adventure we went on I was always the one who was the most dirty. Jay always looked as if he just got out of the shower, what' s that about? Missy had some major attitude but nothing Jay couldn't handle. It was lots of fun.

Grandma Janie passed away today...

Please continue praying for our family.

Please continue praying for Grandma Janie...

Grandma Janie fell and has been hospitalized for the past week. Grandpa found her on the floor and immediately called 911. She has not been able to talk since the fall, and recently became unconscious. Grandma is not doing well at all; the doctors said today that she has less then 24 hours to live. Grandma Janie has been a very strong woman up to this point but we all think that it could be possible that it's God's time to take her to be with him. We love her very much but know that God has a much bigger plan for her and for our family. Since her death is expected it has been extremely difficult for the family, we've all been on this roller coaster of emotions over the last few years. Please pray that if it's God's will, she goes quickly, without pain and straight into the arms of our Lord in heaven. Pray for strength and comfort for Ellen and Jack who are in St. Louis by her side during this very difficult time. Pray for Grandpa's unimaginable pain, because he's not only loosing his wife but also the only best friend he's had for the past 42 years. After every horrible rains God promises to send a big beautiful rainbow, please pray for ours to come quickly and to be seen by us all when it does come.

Yeah I finally got him to jump off with me

Okay it was hard to get the guy who was a lifeguard in the water but once he was in he loved it. I had to keep reminding him "when will be the next time we get to do this in Hawaii"? And "If" we do come back we will have kids by then and will have to care for them, right now we're FREE lets LIVE it up! I couldn't believe all of the people who were just like Jay saying things like "I don't want to get wet"! Crazy, what BORING people! I actually convinced several people who didn't want to swim, to get in, afterwards they were all thanking me for the fun they had. This is us holding hands and jumping off a waterfall together. Jay did backflips off the clifts but my timming was really bad so I couldn't get the picture. But he was doing them, it was so cool. He was so proud, it was the first time he's done back flips since his knee surgery. He use to be able to just stand on the ground and flip.

We saw so many waterfalls

I absolutely LOVED swimming in the waterfalls it was so much fun! I just couldn't get enough! I had to stop and swim in every waterfall we saw! Jay was being very "prissy" he didn't want to get wet again, ect. ect.! HELLO, I'm the girl, I'm the one who has to worry about my hair and make-up.

imagine driving by this on your way to work everyday

I wish I was back in Hawaii

But instead I'm grading papers, making lesson plans, calling parents, attending meetings, ect. ect.!

Jay is standing on dried up black Lava

Erupting Volcanoes in Hawaii is as common as Earth quakes in California. We saw houses that were surrounded by lava and the only way they can get to their house is by helicopter.

Our helicopter in the mirror while up in the air in Hawaii...don't look down!

This was a thrill ride!

Our second stop was on the Big Island in Hilo. We took a helicopter ride over smoking, lava flowing volcanoes. We also saw a bird eyes few of the ocean, mountains and waterfalls. It was truly magical.

Jay and I make friends with a true Hawaiian Lady.

We had a wonderful time on our 10 day hawaii vacation. All of the islands are so beautiful, but so different from eachother. We are so glad we took a cruise, there is no better way to see Hawaii . This is us on our private balcony aboard the ship right before going to dinner. The food was so GOOD! We seriously gained some weight from this vacation, but it was all worth it!