Wondering and Wandering; also, the rabid raccoon

Nothing brings out the kid in all of us like a bit of snow. Yes, aunt-with-books, I said SNOW. We had brief snow here last week and it was very, very exciting. Folks further north, such as at Texas A&M, had enough snow to build a snowman.

Bonnie and Kendall ran outside and were twirling around, trying to catch snowflakes in their mouths! The adults in the house went outside to behold this rare phenomenon.

In other news, we had a possibly rabid raccoon in our backyard last Thursday. It was very ill. I finally managed to shoo it out of the gate during the mid-afternoon. Normally I would not have messed with it, but it was right by the back door! Kendall and I had to use the front door when she got home from school because the raccoon was in the way! A while later, two constables cornered it out in the street and kept an eye on it until animal control came (it took them about 2 hrs to show up). The constables were prepared to shoot it, or run over it, if the raccoon had threatened anyone. Thankfully, there was no need!

Enjoy your day, and I hope you have a nice Christmas break from work or school!

Answer to Bonnie's Thanksgiving Tag

Hello! Here's my answer to Bonnie's tag to list 10 things for which I am thankful.

1. God: He is the giver of all other things on this list, along with everything else, especially salvation and forgiveness from sins through Jesus Christ.

2. Our family: I am blessed with a great husband and two wonderful daughters!

3. Books: I just finished reading Twilight and A Thousand Splendid Suns. You are never bored as long as you have a good book nearby!

4. Chocolate: the darker, the better

5. The blue sky: it's my favorite color

6. Our big, comfy, lazyboy couch

7. Southwest Christian Academy (Bonnie's school) and Briarwood (Kendall's school)

8. Good Christian friends, many of whom I have known for quite a while now! They are truly like family to me.

9. Electricity: Don't we all appreciate it more since Hurricane Ike?

10. Modern medicine and doctors that can help premature babies like Maddison survive and live a normal life.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Haikus

My pathetic haiku poems --

Yellow banana
Tastes so sweet, so ripe, so nice
You want to have one?


Lights twinkle, dangle
Memories hang proud and glad
Baker's Christmas tree


Incandescent bulb
Shaded by fabric and lace
My lamp for reading


See, this is why Aunt with Books and Redheaded Man always make up the fun scavenger hunt clues at Christmas time! They laugh at my lack of creativity and don't like for me to participate. If you are laughing at my lack of creativity, please stop that right now!

Bonnie is the poet/writer in the family. Did you know that she once won a haiku contest at the Shell Westhollow Research Center where her dad works? Her awesome (ahem!) prizes included a chemistry T-shirt!

Bonnie Made Me Do This

Here's my copy of the list from Bonnie's blog:

Tell me your favorite book, and I'll respond with:

1. Something random about you
2. Challenge you to do something
3. Pick a color that reminds me of you
4. Tell you something I like about you
5. Tell you my first/clearest memory of you
6. Pick an animal that you remind me of
7. Ask you a question I've always wanted to ask

I'm not good at haikus, but I'll get to work on Bonnie's challenge to do a series of haikus about bananas, a lamp, and a Christmas tree. That should be interesting!

Rain

Today it is raining (Bonnie will be so happy). Many songs have been written about rain, and I was thinking . . .

Raindrops keep falling on my head
Purple Rain
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down
The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain
If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops Oh how happy I would be
Singing in the rain
It never rains in California
Healing Rain
Stand in the Rain

Do you know . . . which of the above is by Superchick? The Carpenters? BJ Thomas? Michael W. Smith? Which ones are from movies or the theater?

Enjoy your rainy day! Have some chocolate and relax! That's what I'm doing RIGHT NOW (and the chocolates are Belgian!)

Hurrication

Yes, we have been on a hurrication. After Hurricane Ike, we went to visit my cousin and her family in Round Rock, Texas. They have a lovely home and have been very hospitable. Her children are a 7th grade girl and a 5th grade boy; my kids have loved playing wii with them! My aunt and uncle are also in town from Florida and I have gotten to visit with them. I don't get to see them very often, so I really enjoyed that!

During the hurricane, while I sat up listening to the howling, pounding wind and rain, I was thinking about God and His power. The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe (Prov. 18:10). The Lord was our strong tower that night, wasn't He? He shelters us during the storms of our lives just like our well built homes shelter us physically in a hurricane. The storms of our lives can be ill health, financial problems, family issues, and many other stresses; God is with us in these storms! There is a contemporary Christian song that says "Sometimes He calms the storm, sometimes He calms His child." So, even if God lets the storm rage on for a while, He is forever faithful and will not leave us alone!

TAG: What Bible verse were you thinking of during the storm, and how did it comfort you?

Response to Travel Tag

Hello! Today I would like to respond to Render's tag about this summer and about the desire for future travel.

Our family really enjoyed our trip to Minnesota and Chicago. Typically our family vacations are go, go, GO vacations where we see a bunch of national parks, tons of museums, etc. and wear ourselves out with fun. This year was different. This year we spent five days at a lake in Minnesota doing nothing. We just enjoyed nature, the cool weather, the incredible food at the lodge, doing a cool Smaug puzzle, and hanging out. My younger daughter, now known on the blogosphere as Kendall, enjoyed playing shuffleboard with Dad and reading in the hammock. We saw Aunt with Books in Chicago and had a great visit with her. We usually only get to see her at Christmas.

Where would I like to go in the future?

Mr. B and I are actually on a quest to visit all 50 states! We both have only one state left -- can you guess what it is? (drumroll please -- West Virginia!) Yes, we have been to Hawaii and Alaska but NOT West Virginia! Next summer we plan to take a trip to Washington, DC and we can include West Virginia with that.

Other places on my wish list include: St. Petersburg, Russia (they have an awesome art museum there called The Hermitage); Ireland; Scotland (Mr. B has been there but the rest of us have not -- he says they have lots of red headed people there!); and Scandinavia, especially Norway (I would love to see some fijords). I know that Kendall wants to visit Russia since she is Russian by birth and she does not remember living there.

Thanks for reading, and happy travels!