Better "Dumb" than "Numb"

by Michael Sutherland

Imagine with me that you are filling a box... 📦 but not just a box but one that one day you will pass on to someone else. Imagine too, that it is a transparent box. Others will see the contents... This box is interactive too. People will experience the contents, maybe add or take from it.. As life goes on, you continue to fill this box. You would find that although you have a lot you want to put in the box- some things are not so important or maybe.. because of the size, shape or weight of the objects- the box cannot hold them. Maybe certain things should be placed first so that others can fit later? Or maybe you might want to fill it with certain items that you deem really important before others add things you don't think belong?

This box...

Is your child. Or your children. 👫

What are you filling your child with? What else is filling your child?

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I hear many parents (today) say- "My child is going to learn it some day- might as well be now" or "this is real life" or "real world", "I'm not going to water it down for them". What a bogus notion. Seriously... If we are thinking of this box analogy- you want your child to first have a childhood. They are innocent- sure they make mistakes and they can get annoying or just be downright bad- but they are immature (and sometimes ignorant) for a reason. If you are allowing them to see and live the world the same as you do, you are robbing them of their childhood and innocence and replacing it with knowledge (images and thoughts) that they cannot comprehend and in turn, this creates children who have anxiety, depression, shame and low self esteem. 

I come across needy children ALL the time that CRAVE love ♥ and attention 😳... and usually, I find that the way they talk and what they talk about- is beyond what they should know or have experienced. These poor kids that feel like they should be something that their bodies/minds know that they are not ready for. 

I'm sorry to say it, but...

Its not okay to allow your children to watch movies that are Rated R (or very often, not PG-13 either..)❌

Its not okay to allow your child, pre-teen or young teenager to have unlimited, unsupervised access to the internet. 💻

Its not okay to have adult-themed conversations around your children. 🚫

Its not okay to smoke and drink or do drugs around them. ⚠

Its not okay to allow your child to play hours of shooting & killing games. Ⓜ

Its not okay for you to allow your child to use foul language. 😱

Its not okay for your young girl to go to school or the mall or the skating rink with make-up and scarce clothing. 🚺

Its not okay for your young boy to stay glued to a screen. 🚹

I could go on.. but you understand what I am saying here...Yes? These things are not babysitters. You are not teaching them a lesson about the world. You are not preparing them for "the real world" 🌍 by allowing adult behaviors. Want me to prove I'm right? Think on this...

To rebel, 50 to 100 years ago, youth would smoke pot. Now its nothing for them to do X or meth or some pill concoction.

To "fight back" against the authorities, the youth would form rallies or get into fights and etc.. now they do shootings and bombings.

Girls would date the "bad guys" to rebel, now they purposely get pregnant by them.

Young guys would hang out on a corner with the fellas and pick fights with the other guys; now they join gangs where murder and larson are the initiations.

They have to 'step it up' nowadays because what was once deemed as rebellious or wrong, is now more acceptable.. and it wouldn't be rebelling if what they did was seen as acceptable.. 

We are numbing our children- making them more comfortable and accepting of the norms of the adults. So what will happen when they are adults? How will their children perceive the world- or better yet- how will they react to it? How will they rebel? 

Please... think about this parents. We need to focus less on our careers and our retirement and more on our youth! Easy and care-free parenting is a lie.. if its like that then you are doing it wrong. Bring back ethics. Make morals a priority. Knowledge and experience does not teach responsibility- obedience and limitations do. 🙈🙉🙊

This is not "the Christian way" or "traditional parenting".. I am not selling my personal parenting opinion to you. There is no "co-exist" notion here either- there aren't many good ways to do it. There's just RIGHT 👍and there's WRONG 👎. 

For the sake of this blog, I want to define the word "dumb" for you as I have used it in the title. To be dumb is to be without intelligence, knowledge or good judgement. Our children are certainly not without intelligence.. but they are meant to be without knowledge and good judgement- these things come with experience... it is better to be this way, than to be numb.. (without feeling) to mature things.  Social media, gaming, and technology (although useful) has a large hand at making this generation more introverted and is limiting their social skills. As a parent, you can counter this effect...

In this "box" 📦 we are filling.. let's not fill it with junk. Let's fill it with what we want to see used for the future. Let's fill it with what we want others to see in it. If you like the arts, then teach your kid about music 🎼 and theatre 🎬and art 🎨. If you are the athletic type, then teach your child agility🚴 or speed ⚽or strength training 🏊. Whatever you are good at or appreciate in the world- whatever you think is going to benefit our society and make your child happy- ALLOW your child to learn that! Put that in the box!

No matter which kind of parent you are. You can take something from this. Look at yourself.. look at your child.. I'm sure you've done a lot of good. What else can you do? The children- they deserve the best we can do. 😃

Michael Sutherland

Back to the Future [Spoken Word]

Back to the Future

Speaking the truth like a serum

I bring you this heart knowledge

Don't tune it out or twist it

Many of you have already missed it

Jesus came, like the Field of Dreams

but more like a dream, come true

He came and He died for me and for you

He took away your sin from your burdened back

Jesus had mercy, gave us the grace we lack

He bore our sins and paid for it in full,

no payment plan or interest, just pay back.. 

Sounds like revenge but the truth is, we were His to begin with

The devil tried to steal you but like a dumb criminal, he didn't realize 

the depth of God's love for us. 

We are set free. Free from the bondage. Free from the guilt. 

Free from our past and free from our sins!

Are you walking in victory today? Like a gladiator, we fight for our lives but we have an Almighty victorious warrior who has already won the battle for us!

But for some reason, we continue to reach back. Like a sci-fi film, we go back in time.. and we reclaim our sins. We place ourselves back into our past and place the chains back upon our wrists. 

Jesus buried our transgressions in the tomb with Him but we rob His grave and again, own those worthless treasures. 

I'm here to tell you that its time to come Back to the Future. Hop in the Delorean and leave your former self behind for good!! 

No chains. No limits. Surrender your life to the one who gave it to you to begin with. Taste and see that the Lord is good! And if you will only let Him have ALL Of YOU, He will unbound you and enlarge your territory beyond you can imagine.

--Don't Be Ashamed of Your Blessings!--

A good friend of mine told me recently that she realized that she had a creative mind and that she was going to begin to 'feed' and 'nurture' that part of her mind more often. All I could think when she said that was- DUH! Of course you have a creative mind- everyone that knows you knows that about you!

This got me thinking about myself. You know, one of my favorite sayings that I live my life by is: "Self Reflection is Key". Key to what? Key to improvement, to happiness, to preventing repeated mistakes. For me- key to wisdom! For years I have tried to look at my circumstances and my experiences from an outside view. I think about how others perceive me and what were the results of my actions. Is God pleased with me and how could I make a better impression? Am I making a positive impact on the world I'll one day leave behind?

God created me different. I don't mean like, Barney different... "Everyone is special, special.." playing in my head...  I mean seriously, different from other people, different from other guys especially. And I don't mean different, like gay or peace & love or cult leader or gothic thoughts.. haha, you see I just got back from the beach:

Friends and family @ Myrtle Beach!

      I took my sisters and a previous foster child to the beach for spring break. It was the same
      location as last year (I blogged about it too!) and it was just as cold as last year too! Regardless,
      we had a ton of fun! I had some GREAT friends come up and visit with us and they certainly
      made the experience that much more enjoyable.. Although I could probably take up all of your
      time talking about how much fun we had- I want to at least try to stay on topic! You see, at the
      hotel we stayed at, there is a water park, a couple pools, and a couple hot tubs (in addition to
      obvious attractions of the beach!). Within a day or two only, I had countless children hanging all
      over me! There were children on my back, pulling me under water, splashing me, waving at us up
      and down the elevators and in the hallways, etc etc.. my kids made friends so fast because of my
      ability to win all those little hearts over!!!

At least there were indoor pools  :P

Now as you can imagine, it was a bit awkward, as a young single male, to have all these children all over me when we don't even know one another and their parents are (for the most part) all sitting in the hot tub or the patio furniture doing nothing. I most certainly don't want to give the wrong impression!!! However, not a single one seemed to mind and everyone had such a great time! And to be honest- I had the best time of all. This is how I'm different. I loved every minute of it! Not for any of the wrong reasons- I just love making children happy. I love hanging out with them and having fun with them! We made so many new friends and in fact, there was one particular family that we hung out with a lot [went to dinner with them on our last day there and felt like we were saying bye to long lost family! :( The kids were so cool.. one was just so funny with the things she said and the expressions she made! They will be missed!! ].

This can be a problem to many.. and well, it has been on occasion. People just don't understand why someone like me would be.. 'the way I am!' without ill intentions. For some time now, I've lost the feeling that this is a good quality of mine. I've received a couple "negative reviews" let's say from a couple people and I've let it get to me- that my involvement in the lives of children is too much and not appropriate in this day and age.

After this week at the beach- seeing the joy I brought to all those children!- I remember again that this isn't a flaw, but a BLESSING from no one other than God above. He made me this way and I will not let close-minded, joy-less people make me believe otherwise again. If I do, then stories like this will not be possible:

      As some of you may know, my family loves to roller skate! You could say we are addicted! Ha..
      So... while we were at the beach, we decided to go the local skating rink (I've been before and it's
      quite an impressive place!!).

      While there, a kid came skating around (she was probably 8 or 9)
      and she was singing at the top of her lungs! It was funny until I realized that the song that was
      playing had many "bleeped out" words that she was not filtering herself. To make the impression
      for you- this little girl was yelling "f*ing awesome" every time the chorus came around. I was
      shocked and I couldn't help myself... "Excuse me, come here.." I say. She comes over (she was an
      excellent skater!). "You know, you shouldn't be saying words like that. I don't even talk like that".
      "Well, I'm not polite and I don't care" she says, "I can say whatever I want". I went on to explain
      to her that yes, she can say whatever she wants, but she shouldn't. That God didn't make her a
      young lady to sound like a sailor! I told her that other kids aren't going to think she's cool or
      more mature just because of what comes out of her mouth. After some time of talking, I could tell
      that I had struck a nerve. I had really made an impression and she really saw where I was coming
      from. After that conversation, I was her instant friend! She followed my family around the rink
      everywhere. You could tell that nobody gives her attention at home and the attention she may get,
      is probably not positive (her parents had dropped her off there as they did often she told me).
     
When we left, she was to the point of tears. She hugged us many, many times. She begged me to come skating again the next day. She asked several times when she would see us again. It was tough to leave her behind. I wanted to find the parents and shake them up!!



If I had listened to some of these "nay-sayers" in my life- I would have avoided that kid in the first place and just let her be. An older male talking to a young, needy girl.. shame, shame, you know!? Without a shadow of a doubt though.. I KNOW that God placed me there for a major purpose. I impacted that child's life.. you'll read this and pray for her too.. and she will be so much better off now than she may have been before.

I want to encourage you, the reader, too.

Each of us are "..fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well." Psalm 139:14

Know what special skills and qualities God has blessed you with and USE THEM!!! Don't let anyone or anything hinder the difference you could be making in this world! As a Holy Father, He wants to see you happy and successful! Even more so- He wants to see you bring out happiness and success in the lives of others too!

God Blessed You,
Michael

Happy Easter friends.. and enemies ;)

Welcome Readers!

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Guess you probably forgot about this blog, huh!? ME TOO! haha for real though- it's not been a very good year so far for me and I haven't wanted to share bad news with all my readers, however, through the storm- God has held me together and I will always have blessings to be thankful for!

My nephew (brother) Jason!

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So- to catch you up a little (a lot has happened!) I will back up to December. As many of you know, I am a kindergarten teacher and a foster parent. At the end of last semester, just before Christmas break, I was called to take a large sibling group. I already had a few but this was an offer I couldn't say no to.. ages I love and of course, a story to come with it. For the sake of brevity- I'll tell you- I had 7 children to provide Christmas for. (I had TONS of people that helped make it possible!!) This was winter break- so I was surrounded by 7 children 24/7!! You know what though!?---- I LOVED every last moment!! These children and I bonded instantly. We had so, so much fun! We battled heart break, 2 of them having the flu, one with autism, one of my children I had hoped to adopt moved out, a couple had other 'health issues', etc.. despite all of this- these children quickly realized that there was a life outside of the one they had known and they were just starting to look forward to the extended time it seemed that we were going to have together. This is when the levy broke..


So apparently, foster parents (statistically) go under investigation once every 5 years.. well this was my turn I guess.. of course I cannot tell you any information about it, but every child was removed from my home. Tears and heart break- again for these children- again for me. The investigation has since been closed and unfounded but... the hurt is still there. I am done foster parenting. Not because I have to- but because my heart cannot take any more.



We live in a time where homosexuals and gun owners are fighting for their rights but when it comes down to it- its the good people, the ones trying to make a difference that are really the ones discriminated against. If you choose the path of righteousness, you can expect for the world to fight back! Now don't get me wrong, I have made my mistakes and I am certainly not the person I hope to be one day, BUT- I live to serve others. Anyone that knows me, knows that I have a heart to make a difference in this world for the better. God has called me to a higher purpose and unfortunately, that means that I have to take the brunt of the world's opinions and unethical actions against me.
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I am not of this world though. I have a kingdom in Heaven that I am an heir to. One day, all of this will not matter, because I will be sitting, looking upon the heavenly throne, praising the One who knows the depth of my soul and the desires of my heart. He sent His son down here to die for me. People did not understand Him either. Many did not believe in His intentions. Many made false assumptions. He paid the ultimate price for this- so that I did not have to! [Thank You for your sacrifice Lord God! I owe you every part of my existence..]

Since all of this- I have sought out His will for me. I would LOVE to go into the mission field, but my student loan debt is holding me back from that. I am not sure what He has in store, but for all that I've been through- it must be something great!!

I don't want this blog to be just about me.. yes, I would certainly appreciate your prayers and support, but I want you to know that you are not the only one facing trials. There are so many people out there that are seeing hard times.. lost loved ones, cancers and other health problems, financial failures, addictions and depression... so many others that, like me, need the love and provision of Christ.

This Easter, remember that despite what the world offers or denies you, we have SO MUCH MORE to look forward to one day in Heaven!!!

If you do not know that you are going to be there one day with me.. please, find out how you can. Ask me or someone you care about how you can be saved from the emptiness that this world offers. Jesus died for us, and rose again so that we may have renewed life in Him!

Your Friend,
Michael

100 mph and leaking fuel!

Hello friends!! I know.. it's about time!!! I tell you what, I love to write but wow- it really takes time to get it all down. Especially when you are me. I haven't been blogging and it feels so good to be back. (I'm sure I'll disappear again.. :P ) Anyhow, thanks for coming by and reading my ramblings! You ought to get a good laugh or two in the meantime!!!!

I know, it's a thumb picture, right?

 

If you're new here.. well read back because there's too much good stuff to miss! Basically, I'm just a guy. Single. (for some strange reason) And I teach kindergarten. And foster parent. I know, I know.. weird right? Well, often, people don't understand me.. Why would a young guy wanna do these things?? So I started doing this blog so that others can have a better understanding of 'me' and why I do what I do! The why is easy- I love kids and I love God- and He told me to! :) The how is another thing altogether.. I fall so short of these priveleges but God is good and he completes the areas I am weak. With that said.. let's catch you up!

 

The summer.. was great! and horrible! Ha.. In the last post I told all of you how busy it had started off and some of the things we had planned. One of the "big hits" of the summer we were soooo looking forward to was Family Camp. This is at Nosoca Pines Ranch in Liberty Hill, SC. It is a week of family fun activities, 3 meals a day, programs, and lodging.. Let me start by telling you now, after the fact, how AWESOME it was!! Out of my 26 years of life, this is one thing I will remember forever. The camp had activities planned for us from sun up to sun down. We rode bikes and horses, wake boarded, skiied, kneeboarded, tubed, pontooned, swam, dove, climbed rock walls, attended skits by incredibly talented staff, learned from great presentation, made candles and ice cream, and went on hayrides. The meals were great. The staff were awesome. The facilities were ideal... but most of all, the families were a delight. It was so great to meet so many wonderful parents and children! We made several friends while there! For the kids, it was a great opportunity for them to do so many things they may have never had done in their previous homes/lifestyles... For me, it had been a trying summer dealing with all of the kids' emotional/behavioral issues but that one week at family camp was just what the doctor ordered. :)  The kids were so busy and so happy that there wasn't any time for fighting and fussing. I really appreciated our time together and thoroughly enjoyed my children! If you have a chance to go next summer, I highly recommend it! www.nosoca.org

 

Now.. the only "down-side" of family camp was that, since we signed up for EVERY activity, by the end of the week our bodies and minds were aching! lol We were seriously worn flat out. However, my dad, step mom, and sister (whom live in Tallahassee, FL) were down in St. Petersburg, FL (where the rest of my dad's family is located) for a small window of a couple days... which happen to fall on the days immediately following family camp! So.. although we may have been out of energy (and clean clothes!!!), I was not going to miss the chance to see them so off we went. Straight from camp to St. Pete, FL. An eight hour drive! Now I don't want to bore you with a bunch of complaining- because all in all, it was so great to see my family there and I would do it all again to see them, however... I would avoid the following: (he he) When we got there, my youngest child got the stomach flu. He was hurling constantly. (I was staying at my very gracious aunt's house [thank you!] but she hasn't had any children there for quite some time, and here I come with four of them!) We tried to make the best of it and I wanted to show them all about salt-water fishing.. he vomitted much more times than we caught fish. (Which was 3 btw!) Then my stomach started aching pretty bad. Once the cramps were too much to bare, we got in the van to leave. As we are driving down the road.. I notice how my gauges are not moving. Then, my van just completely shuts off. Dadgummit. Get into a gas station and have it jumped-- make it about 10 feet-- get it jumped again-- and make it another 10 feet. Humph. So, I get it into a parking space.. take my children next door to Chik-fil-A to eat (and get out of the heat..and my hair) while I go back to the van and call some family in for back up. In the 10 minutes it took to get my kids situated, the gas station owner called a tow-truck driver to come and get my van. Thanks buddy. (There's a lot of illegal parking there because of the beach..) Well to make a long story short, the van was sick.. and so was my youngest kid, and then myself, and then 2 more of my kids.. and then my host. Wonderful, yes?? Our big chance to see family and the awesome FL beaches and we're stuck in bed watching endless episodes of the Last Airbender on Netflix. The van was in the shop.. the mechanic couldn't find the problem and didn't really have the time either.. finally, a day after our planned departure date, the van was fixed. The only problem was, my teenager had his college orientation the next day at 8 in the morning. It was already the afternoon of the day before. 8O   So.. you know me, sick and defeated, I packed us up, said goodbyes and drove through the entire night straight to his campus. Slept in the van for an hour and then it was off to college for him! Ha.. seems like some crazy dream now, reflecting back!

 

Since then, not much else has happened. School has started back and I have a really good class! Only 18 students (shhhh!) so that certainly helps. :)  The kids at home are really getting the hang of things and we are feeling like quite the family. Still going from one activity to another and rarely have down time but it keeps us all out of trouble! One of my boys is having a lot of trouble learning to follow school rules and routines but I'm hoping he will come along soon. Although ragged, I am happy. I love these boys and they love me. Couldn't ask for more right!? :) (Well, I could.. but I'm saving that for the next post!)

 

I want to thank all of my followers, new & old, and hope it wasn't too much reading for you today and that somehow, it was a blessing to you!

 

 

 

Please don't hide on the other side of your computer screen (or the fridge).. comment & share this blog if you have enjoyed it! I love you all!

 

Michael

 

 

 

Happy Father's Day

Hello Friends, Family, and Random Readers

I love you guys!

I know, it's been a while.. shame on me! Lots to update you on..  but, just in case you stumbled upon this blog- I want you to know that this is about the ups, downs, and in-betweens of parenting. In my case- single father foster parenting. So with that, let's begin!

This is me. To the left is my sister Rose (she and I are very close) and my nephew Jason (more like my little baby brother). I love these two people! Other than my boys at home, I spend a lot of my time with them and my niece Devin. 

Since the last time I updated my blog, tons have happened.

As you may know, I have a teenager (17 years old) and his name is Daniel. I can speak freely of him on here (he's the only one I can do so about) because he is 'legally free' of the system... Well anyways.. he has just graduated from high school! Whoop Whoop!  Here he is.. :)

That's quite a feat and I am proud of him for making it this far! You know, living in foster care most of your life.. I can't imagine the hardships and heart aches. Kudos to this guy for rising above the statistics! Now he is off to my alma mater (sp?), USC Aiken!

My family has grown too since my last post.. we are now a family of 6! Of course, I can't go into great detail but.. I will tell you a little :)  One of the new ones may soon be adoptable.. so that gives me some new, exciting feelings.. I would love to adopt one day and you know what? This kid is adorable.. he's sweet and cute- anybody would be lucky to have him! I sure will be praying about God's will and hoping that I can be the dad he is already calling me... 

I have another couple boys that are relatively new and they are doing well with the transition and changes too.. one is slightly.. aggravating.. but funny too. And looks up to me.. so I choose to enjoy having him. Each day. lol  One of my kids has a little extra weight.. and really, all of 'em are a little lazy and grew up eating junk food so I have been trying my very best to make healthy meals for them and keep our activity levels high!! Although always have been active in my home, feeding 6 mouths is that much more difficult when you have to avoid unhealthy foods!!!!

I also have had another "first" recently when I got a phone call from a fellow foster parent asking for respite care. (This is when you watch someone else's children for a short amount of time for them..) When I got the phone call, I was in the middle of pulling up all my carpet in the house.. with 4 children.. lol.. however, it was for a 2 year old.. and Lord knows I cannot say no to that!!! So I said YES! haha.. and well, turned out that there were 2 toddlers that needed watching.. no, actually 3!! Yes, 3.. 3 little tots added to my 'entourage' for the weekend! Of course I could have declined.. but as I said before, I don't know what "no" means and really, who can decline those little guys!? We had a blast together.. they are so precious at that age and despite the "terrible 2s" notion.. they were actually way more behaved than my boys! (which I did vocalize, mind you!) lol  I took them to a nice community pool and we pigged out on raisins and watched Cars, twice! :P It was a lot of fun but it was also sobering.. it's not easy foster parenting when you have to see what these kids have been through or.. let them go.... and my hat is off to all of those foster parents out there that take these young, young ones.. I would fall apart letting go of a baby or toddler. It's always hard of course, but those lil' ones bond quickly and I don't see how y'all do it!!!!

We're on summer break and staying pretty busy.. I've been trying to redo my floors but it's taking a little more cash than I had planned.. it's gotta be done by the end of the summer.. hopefully sooner! I will be so glad to be rid of all the nasty carpet that came with the house! The kids have been driving each other crazy but that's usual right?! (My teenager is especially annoyed with them..) We did a week of Kids Kamp recently.. I had planned on just attending to keep an eye on my kids but ended up volunteering with the 5 & 6 year old group and as usual, loved it! That age is my favorite and I really got to know those little people. We had a lot of fun learning through different skits and worship songs. They had inflatables, popcorn, snowcones, crafts, horseback riding, etc.. all for free. It was a great time!! We all came home pretty exhausted... so this week is going to be a little more low key than before. Then we will have a week of VBS at a local church followed by another week in which we are going to family camp--- this is what I can't wait for!!! It's a full week out on this ranch, full of water sports, 3 meals a day, camping, inspirational talks, and relaxation. :) Well.. as much of that as you can with 5 kids :P The following week we will be going down to Florida to visit my dad's side of the family (also exciting!!). It will be a very busy end to the summer!!!

The tank we built from cardboard!!

In closing, today is Father's Day.. and well, I wasn't told 'Happy Father's Day' at all today by any of my kids until about 3 o'clock.. when we saw an old foster child of mine.. and he hugged me and told me I was the best dad ever :) (I want him back!!!) :P  However, I like to focus on the most influential Father of them all, my heavenly one!

Michael Sutherland

PS. Comment Please!

Summertime and the Livin is Easy...

Click here for satisfactory, check there for hispanic,
Finishing these report cards may end like titanic..
Frantic, Frantic- trying not to panic- feeling sort of manic
My to do list is gigantic, larger than the atlantic!
If I get any more, the stress'll be volcanic
Assessments and paperwork are surely satanic! :P



With that now aside... let us look ahead to the summer.. oh, summer.. how I long for you. You are just out of reach yet I sense you are near. Will you please come to me soon?? :)

What are you doing this summer? I need some ideas.. we are planning on hitting each and every VBS that we can! lol So far though, I am not sure what's going to happen. There's a summer camp for Boys & Girls club that we may be able to get into. It is usually fun and has a lot of outings. We are also going to do a local baseball camp- the boys don't know yet but I'm sure they'll be quite excited! (I have 4 of them now, by the way...) I plan on doing some camping with them too.. maybe a trip to the beach. We shall see.. I don't really want to spend a lot of money so I would love to know what all of you are planning!

We have been doing tons lately.. we are trying to live/eat healthier so we have gone out on a few walks around town and I am trying my best to make healthy (and fulfilling!) meals. I could use your ideas there too!! I can make anything.. I just don't know a whole lot of ideas! (Comes from a lack of food network.. no cable, you know!?) My dishwasher is on the fritz, apparently it's been storing up some water somewhere so we got a nice, funky smell yesterday coming from it when I discovered that... :P  Anyway.. I have a couple kids that could really benefit from some exercise.. so, less sitting around for us! (Which, well, we don't ever do anyway so... lol)

"Southwest" Salad we had last night...

So.. foster parents, birth parents.. whoever you are reading this.. take 2 minutes and reply to my post! :) Tell me what your plans are for the summer. Give me some suggestions. Invite us along. Whatever.. And, some healthy dinner ideas would be great too! Thanks for reading!!

Michael