It's Love and a Revolution...

 God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

The past several days have been wonderful! On Thursday the boys and I went to Butler's Bird Breeders to pick up Stella! The breeders (Bruce and Bonnie Butler) work out of their home, so they are able to breed exotic birds as well. Some of you know about Paolo's intense fear of dogs (one bad experience with a hyper puppy)... even if the dog is wee, wee, little, he SCREAMS and bounces onto Adam or I, clinging for dear life. The Butler's have two wiener dogs... that greeted us. Hmmm. Right, so Paolo is screaming and wrapped around me, and one of their macaws screeches. Have you ever heard a macaw screech? It's something akin to nails on a chalkboard, on steroids. At any rate, we finally got Paolo calmed down (and said dogs outside), had a wonderful little visit with Bruce and Bonnie (great people!), and then we brought our Stella home. I am in LOVE with this bird! She loves me too. =) All the kids love her, and she's quite happy with them as well...with all of them accept the twins, that is. They run up to her cage, "pawing" at it, yelling  "STELLWA!! STELLWA!!!" (see video below), like really bad Marlon Brando impersonators. Anyway, you will be seeing much more of Stella. By the way, I have no idea how Stella feels about Adam, as he will not hold her at all... he admires her from afar.

So, I didn't realize what a pain in rear I was being by taking the picture, but oh my! Bruce's face says it all "Are serious LADY??"  Then there's the boys..

Thought these were so cute, baby African Greys

My niece and nephew... Stella loves her

 Stella giving Sam kisses

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A joyful heart is good medicine,

But a broken spirit dries up the bones. 

On Saturday we had our "Tribute to the Revolution" tea. To wrap up our unit study, the boys planned a traditional colonial high tea. All the foods were traditional colonial foods (even had George Washington's favorite dessert, Tipsy Pudding) ... save for Aunt Mary's meatball sandwiches to satisfy us Italians. The boys displayed all of the work they did, and were so happy to do so. They worked so hard on this study.

I could say that it was "Just family", and while that is true (save for Jackie's friend) it sounds too ... smallish. There were 23 people there. =)   We had such a nice time. Adam said that this was the first time, in a long time, that he actually had fun at a party.  I felt the same way. This was the first time without Dad here, that I had pure fun. I think Adam was thinking the same thing, but kept it to himslef. I did think of Dad a lot that day, but for the first time, it was bitter sweet, not just bitter. I could actually feel him smiling at his legacy... all over the place. So beautiful, so happy. The yard looked breathtaking. We were all in church this morning (Jimmy, Jill and family were able to attend before heading back home). We had the back row because... well, we're a really distracting family. There was Mom in her little corner of the pew, and next to her sat Jimmy, Jill and family. Behind them, Mary, Aaron, and family, then all if us... we took up 3 rows... I don't know, I hate the word surreal, but that's the only word to describe it... well, beautiful surreal. Two words. Dad was there, through his legacy, he was there. I wish my brain was larger, along with my vocabulary, but that's about all I can get out to describe it.  Thankful, so thankful for that time with family.

This is how Santino felt this morning...

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Won't Let Satan Blow it out (NO!) I'm gonna Let it Shine...

I had planned on doing the Pumpkin Gospel for all the kiddos Saturday night whilst my brother went out to dinner and a movie , and whatever to let them celebrate my big brother's birthday (which is today). Well, I always think that my brother and I share very few of the same genes, but yesterday I found out that we share the fact that we really hate going out. =) He decided that they would go get some shopping done (yep, like me!), instead.


So Jackie and her friend Evan are indulging me (poor Evan actually stuck around late for this). They're sitting at the table acting interested so the kids will follow suit... wanting to be like the cool teenagers. I painted a freaky cartoon smiley face on the pumpkin. I talked about how some people have smiles on their faces and when bad things come along, the smile is easily washed off (I take a soapy rag and wash the freaky face off). This is making my mathematical, engineering minded niece nuts, because she's never seen the Pumpkin Gospel presented this way... plus the painted face was really creepy... and the kids were getting wigged out. Right. I then cut the top off of the pumpkin and began cleaning the "yucky" stuff out, "just like God cleans the yucky stuff out of us."

There is SO much "yucky stuff"... the kids' eyes are glazing over. I make another analogy, not typically used in the Pumpkin Gospel, I talk about how God can, and does, use our sinful past for good, just like we can eat, or plant the pumpkin seeds, or make pie out of the yuck. I hear a small voice coming from the living room, it was Mom. "Bad, analogy Ann."  At this point all the kids are screaming and swinging from the chandeliers (slight exaggeration), because they're bored out of their ever loving minds... Jackie is teasing the mess out of me (seriously though, there was SO much PUMPKIN GUTS!!) , and Mom and I are having theological arguments... sort of (I won, I tell you!)

I'm certain Evan was regretting having stayed for this. I'm carving the pumpkin (It's like a half of an hour later at this point) and the pumpkin is looking more and more evil... I can't for the life of me, get this thing to look happy. I mean the idea is that God cleans you out, puts a smile on your face, and lights you from within. How can I use "Demon Pumpkin" to illustrate that? The simple answer is, "You can't Andrea". So I told the poor children the rest of "what should have been"... don't think it worked. I think Jackie and Evan were wondering how on earth I was able to screw it up that bad... their faces showed it. Kudos to my sweet niece, and Evan for standing by me throughout that mess.

Here it is... How could I manage to do this?!?