Well, since Emily tagged me, I guess I need to do this. However...will I find 10 pictures??? We'll see...

10 Things I Love

1.  My Hubby

2. My New House

3. Josie the Cat

4. Babies and 5. Knitting (I knit the blanket she is laying on)

6. More Kittens

7. My Mommy!

8. Moo (Adam calls him "Mr. Moo")

9. Bonnie and 10. Jennabel, My Parakeets

Well, what do you know? I had pictures! Probably because I love them so much. :)

That's all for today.

I am a fan of Wheatables crackers.

Now, I could become a fan of them on Facebook, I am sure, but I just don't do that. Now, I know, Emily, you may do this all the time, but I just don't. (and, Emily, you are the only one I know of so far that could be reading my blog at all...:) )

But I thought I'd post it here, because I am eating them, and they are tasty. I do not like wheat thins or triscuits or anything like that. But these are fabulous. And after about 3 years, I finally have found them again! (I'd had them while baby-sitting and could never remember what they were called.)

Other than that, we bought a house, and I am itching to be able to get into it, paint, and arrange all our stuff. Woo-hoo!

Adam is watching Julie and Julia and I feel like I have jumped on the Blog Bandwagon...

oh well!

Here is my own mini cooking blog:

Today my task was to finish taxes...I took the day off to recover from Easter, and the one thing I absolutely had to do was taxes! That didn't sound too terribly fun by the time I woke up. But I got to it (after only a ...bit... of FarmVille), and taxed away until I got too hungry. Then I was going to make Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake, but realized I had no milk. So I gave up and just ate some chocolate chips. At lunch time, Adam came home and then encouraged me to actually make my food (he bought me milk). Unfortunately, there was only one egg, and I needed two! So I made a half batch. MMM it was good...especially after having starved myself until about 1:30.

After lunch I was able to actually finish those taxes, and found out I'm actually getting a refund from the Feds and from both states we lived in last year! I promised Adam I would make dinner, so I pulled myself away from the computer in order to do so. :)

I made "Rice Hotdish." It was one of Grandma Joi's recipes. I'm still not sure if it's the one I've been searching for, but it was tasty! However, three quarters of the way into baking it, I realized I'd forgotten the 2 cans of water! OH NO! So I added it and lowered the temp a tiny bit and cooked it longer...it was decent, although the rice was still a teeny bit crunchy.

And I was supposed to finish Easter today by coloring Easter eggs. Didn't though. :-p

Woo-hoo. Good times.

This picture is a little dark, but I like it because of all the symbolism right there! Baptism, communion, Easter....ahhh.

My hubby and I on Easter! Yay, I finally found a new Easter dress. That is our Easter Tree. It's actually kind of cute!

God's blessings!

Who owns our genes?

You may or may not totally agree with my point here, but but at least let me say my piece!

I was waiting at the grocery store yesterday and saw the headline in a newspaper, "Who owns our genes?" It made me laugh...nobody! While I definitely like the idea that I own my genes, I don't believe that is the case. In fact, this idea is nothing new. Psalm 12:4 says, "We own our lips -- who is our master?" Every single person, at least some point in their life (including me), has wanted to take ownership of their own person and body. But thank God (literally) this is not the case!

Paul says it twice in 1 Corinthians "you were bought at a price" (6:20 and 7:23). In 6:19, he says, "you are not your own." Yet, this is not a bad thing! God "bought" us so that He may again be the number one in our life....so that we can know we can rely on Him for everything.

When we insist on owning ourselves, we are breaking the first commandment (You shall have no other gods). We are putting ourselves above God and trusting in ourselves above all things. I don't know about you, but this seems like a bad idea. If I really did have to figure it all out on my own...I'd be sunk.

But that's the best part. I don't have to figure it all out on my own! And in Luther's Small Catechism, we learn and confess that Christ "has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person...that I may be His own." Christ wants you. He loves you. And furthermore, we are confessing in the Apostle's Creed that we believe "God has...given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members...and still takes care of them." He loves us so much that He gives us this body, these genes, these lips, as blessings. Better yet, He still takes care of us! Hoorah!

I guess that news article was about cancer researchers who would like to patent our genes. I'm not going down without a fight on that one...I know who has claim over me...and it's certainly not a bunch of doctors...who may know as much as they can know on this earth, but can never know as much as my Lord and Savior. And they can never love me as much as Him, either!

a fresh start.

First I blogged with deadjournal. Then I finally got an account with livejournal. After time, Facebook took over...not enough people were interested in my posts to keep me writing. Yet I longingly have looked at the blogs of Amanda B., Sarah O., and now Emilyann P. Perhaps I shall start afresh!

Yet...how shall I write in this blog? I suppose it would be good to write like in my newsletters. Yet that is different than how I used to blog. Well, time shall only tell!

For now, I will leave you with what I posted on FB after church today.

Be still, my soul; the hour is hast'ning on When we shall be forever with the Lord, When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored. Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

There were quite a few sniffles during service today, and my two tears dropped at the very end of this hymn.

Oh, how sweet it will be to reunite in heaven with all those we love, including our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!