Sweet 16

My daughter's 16th birthday is coming up. The years fly way too quickly. She is growing up into a a beautiful young woman. What she really wanted this year was to spend her time with two friends that live far away. She has spent Sukkot with them for the last three years and they have become great friends.

So, Jim and I decided to get airline tickets for her friends (we are very thankful for frequent flyer miles) so they could spend time together. Both girls arrived on Friday. One left yesterday and one is leaving tomorrow.

What a great time they have had. We had Jessikah's birthday dinner on Friday. It was really a distraction for her friends, so they wouldn't know that we had bigger and better plans for Sunday evening. And it was also a chance for us to sing happy birthday to her.

Saturday, we went to congregation, as usual. That was a special day because there were 5 young people baptized that afternoon. Then, while Jim and I went to a wedding, the big kids went to the Harvest Crusade. While we were all out having a good time, my wonderful Rebekah babysat for us. What a blessing she is to us.

Sunday's big activity, besides the teenage girls taking the teenage boy out shopping for some trendy clothes, was a limousine. Jessikah and her friends and two adults (one that acts like a kid and one that almost acts like an adult) went out for a limousine ride. They drove down to the beach.

They got take out for dinner from Ruby's on the pier. The people on the pier made all kinds of comments about them. People couldn't figure out what they were doing since they got out of a limousine and they were such an eclectic bunch :)

The next day we went to the beach. After all, you can't visit Southern California in the summer and not go to the beach!

That night they went to the Irvine Spectrum. Yesterday, they went to the mall again. Then we had to deliver Brandy to the airport and say good-by. Today Jessikah and Hannah are working on making an Anime video. Then, tomorrow we say good-by to Hannah. I'm thinking this will be a very memorable 16th birthday celebration for Jessikah. And the whole family got to join in the fun at one point or other.

Make Sure Big Brother Stays Informed

Here is a post from my friend, Jennifer:

I didn't believe it, but here it is, in black and white.

The white house is asking to be informed about people who are speaking out about health care. Guess we don't dare disagree with the government now? Casual conversation even? This is straight from the White House blog:

"There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it toflag@whitehouse.gov."

Go here to view the article.

Food

I am excited that our garden is going so well. God is truly blessing it! I have always had a brown thumb and never managed to keep a plant alive. But, with the help of God and my kids, it seems to be going really well this time.

The bees are busy in the melon patch. (Can you tell I love my melon patch?)

We have some pumpkin flowers now.

And lots of watermelons growing. A couple weeks ago, they were tiny. It's so cool, even tiny, they looked just like watermelons. Now we're discovering some nice sized watermelons. I can hardly wait to taste the first homegrown watermelon.

And Rebekah went into the melon patch and found cantaloupes! The little cantaloupes look weird - kind of like a hairy cucumber. But she found some full size ones that just need some more ripening.

And, remember that cow I blogged about in June? This is what half of it looks like packaged up and put into a 20 cubic foot freezer. That was one big cow! 500+ pound of grass fed beef. Woohoo!