Picture of the Day

As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. Genesis 8:22

Blog Action Day 08'

Today is Blog Action Day....In case you are wandering what that is, allow me to fill you in.

It is an annual online effort to get as many people as possible talking about one crucial issue in hopes of inspiring an action and bringing about change. Last year it centered around the environment and this year poverty is the big issue that people will discuss.

The last time I checked, over 12,000 bloggers have registered to participate. It is estimated that over 9 million people will read the posts.

I can probably safely say, that if you have an internet connection, and can read this blog, then you, like me, also have electricity, a home to stay in, food, clothing, etc.(all the modern day comforts) -then we are probably not too much affected by poverty.

However, there are millions of people who go to sleep every night hungry, who do not know where their next morsel of food will come from, or if it will even be the next day, let alone a solid roof over their head, or clothing.

I recently read a comment, in a letter from Compassion International, that said this:

EVERY THREE SECONDS POVERTY KILLS A CHILD- EVERY THREE SECONDS!!

That statistic blows my mind!! Especially when I hear things like one of our presidential candidates, this past week spent tens of thousands of dollars in a weeks time in just one television market in one city. Think of how many people that money could feed in a third world country.

For $32 dollars a month, through Compassion, you can provide a child,not only food, but a Christ centered, ministry, that teaches the children about having a personal relationship with Jesus, and what a change He can bring into their lives.

If you are interested in making a difference in the life of a poverty stricken child, whether that be to learn more about the ministry of Compassion , or if you are ready to sponsor a child,I urge you to click here.

You won't be dissapointed.

A Day in the Life of a Mexican Resort Iguana

We had a surprise when we spent our first day on the resort here in Mazatlan, Mexico.

We were greeted by IGUANAS, of all colors and sizes!

They are EVERYWHERE. I have found that even though they are reptiles, they don't bother me nearly as bad as snakes. I have not had to beat any to death yet with a bar bell! :) I usually just sit and stare at them in amazement , feeling like we have signed up for a week at Jurassic Park.

So after observing them , I thought I'd give you all an idea of a typical day in the life of a Mexican Resort Iguana.....

At least one that I've seen, started off his morning , by climbing to the highest point he could find and spent a little quiet time, worshiping , his Creator...... If you look closely you can see an iguana sitting on top of the building. Yes, climbing is not a problem for them.

After morning quiet time, they head on over to the poolside outdoor restaurant, which by the way, is named after them. It didn't take us long to figure out why it is their namesake.


While they are waiting on food, they try to blend in with the rest of the vacationers.

This ones favorite pastime was sunbathing, by the pool, ON A CHAIR. "Excuse me sir, Is this chair beside you taken?"

Once lunch is served, some "kind"people like this one, feed the iguanas. In case you are wandering ,Travis still has all his fingers! Iguanas do have razor sharp teeth, but they take the food out of your hands as gently as when feeding a dog. They like eating things like lettuce, french fries and tomatoes as seen below.....

But one of their all time favorites, is bread. Every day, at about 3pm, a older gentleman named Earl comes, walking to the grassy area, behind the pool, with a clear plastic bag of Bread. It is quite a sight. As he comes across the grass, the iguanas start coming from everywhere, shrubs, trees, etc. He is like the Pied Piper of iguanas. He always gets a small plastic table from poolside, to sit on, and proceeds to feed the "herd". He breaks the bread sharing it with all the iguanas and any birds that might come into the area.

Not only does Earl feed the iguanas, he actually pets them and rubs /pats them like they were a dog or cat. And you can tell, when watching them, that they LOVE it. If they have any loose skin, being shed from the spiny things on their back, he pulls them off as well. The iguanas sit perfectly still as Earl shows them his affection. Earl told us he has been doing this for quite awhile. He has a video on You Tube, from 2 years ago, in which he is feeding 17 Iguanas , all gathered around him. You can search for Earl the Iguana Man, on You Tube, if you are interested in viewing.

After their feeding and massages, they go back to normal iguana mischief.

Here one is,trying to decide what she would look like in Gretchen's sarong-wrap-thing, that was hanging on the back of her chair. "Do you think I would look good in pink?"

They also like to suprise people by sneaking up between them and eavesdropping on their conversations. I can only imagine the stories they could tell if they could talk!

Actually they are very well behaved, and do not bother people or steal things or anything. Once you get used to the initial shock that they live here and are pretty much everywhere, it is not really that big of a deal. As long as the ground does not start shaking....from an approaching T-REX, I'm cool with our new found friends.

Will's Excellent Adventure

Tonight, when we got home from work, we were greeted by our oldest son smiling from ear to ear. This was quite strange since he typically doesn't even acknowledge our presence when we walk in the door.

"What's that you're waving in your hand son?" "WHAT?? Your DRIVER'S PERMIT?!? For crying out loud, you haven't even been in driver's ed for two weeks yet!" YIKES!!!

So, we all emptied our bladders (to avoid any accidents due to extreme fear) and we piled in the family mini van to go on Will Milbourn's maiden voyage. Well, actually, we've let him drive before, but only in the cemetary. We figured he couldn't hurt anyone there :-). But this was the first REAL trip. The first time he'd driven on a real highway. With real cars coming at us. With live people in them. With steep ditches on the sides of the road. In the rain.

"How do I turn on the windshield wipers?"

"Wow!" "The turn signal goes off by itself?"

I was freaking out because he was taking the corners too fast. Missy was about to have a cow because he was so close to the edge of the road. Good thing we took that potty break :-)

All in all, he did very well. We are super excited! And celebrating this new journey with him!

It is now 9:09pm, Will just came up from the basement where he was doing his homework.

The first words out of his mouth "Do you want to go for a ride through town?" Do you? DO YOU?? Can we take the Honda this time?(which he will be driving when he gets his license)

Do the turn signals turn off by themselves in that car too?

I think its going to be a looooonnnnng year, until he turns 16.....

OOPS!!!

Adorable wife who loves to weed eat! Freaky Huh?
Gotta lover her!!


+

New battery powered-cordless weed eater she just couldn't wait to get her hands on...

=

Honey, could you come here for a sec.....

I think we have a tiny PROBLEM!!!

PS: The really cool thing about this is thankfully, we don't have to "break" out the plywood while we are waiting to get this fixed. The window is a double-paned window and whatever it was that hit it, only broke the glass on the outside. The inside glass is still intact. Awesome huh!! That took some skills. Lovey-YOU ROCK!!--well maybe.....get it? I crack myself up. :)

PPS: Missy approved this, before being posted, so you can all quit thinking how much trouble I have gotten myself into...

I've had unfortunate household events too, that I can look back on and laugh at as well.

Hers, she had no control over, mine was due to stupidity-MY OWN...one that comes to mind was the time i tried to back out of the garage, with my driver's door open. It doesn't work well let me tell you! The door tends not to want to shut after you ram it into a stack of bricks, which happened to be sitting in the middle of the garage. It was a rather "breezy" ride to work that morning. Oh well, just another exciting day at the Milbourn house.

ISN'T IT NIFTY-SHE'S TURNED 50......+ 12

If you see my Mom today be sure to wish her a Happy 62nd Birthday! WOW, she is now eligible for medicare, AARP, and can continue getting those awesome Senior Discounts!!

Here's some pictures of her through the years....

P.S.-- Bet you're happy Mom, you've been giving me these pictures of you, when you were younger. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! LOVE YA!!

Denny, Missy, Will, Maren and Joshua

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILL

Today is Will's 15TH BIRTHDAY!!!!

Wow, that is hard to believe. He will be starting high school later this month, and will be taking drivers ed, in his first semester back to school. That does not seem possible. It seems like only yesterday he was driving his little plastic flinstone mobile around the front yard. But, I have been letting him practice driving for quite a while now-in secret locations-mind you-that can't be disclosed-and I must admit he is a pretty good driver.
He takes after me of course.. :)

Anyway, in typical Milbourn birthday fashion, we have been celebrating all week. Sunday evening, we had a cookout/birthday party for family.

Last night we celebrated with an awesome peanut butter pie, courtesy of Reba Jr. She makes one mean pie....Delicious!

Tonight, since it's his actual birthday today, he got to pick where he wanted to go to for dinner. He chose Tumbleweed, and had a nice big juicy steak.

I'm not sure what is in store for the rest of Will-o-mania, but I'm sure it will be fun.

And since none of my posts would be complete without a picture or 2 or 10-here's some of Will over the years.