My Son, Bo, and my daughter, Emmiko have been talking a lot about becoming missionaries.  About two weeks ago my daughter asked me to pray because she wanted an opportunity to tell a little girl (her age) about the Lord when she visits her grandmother, who lives at the end of our road.  I told her I would, but quite frankly, I forgot about it.  Today, tho, the little girl came over with her brother, so my kids went out to visit with them for a little while.  About a half hour later, Bo and Emmi came racing into the house (absolutely beaming) and told me what had happened. The little boy had gone off with bo and dippy, and while they played on the tree swing, the boy said how much he hated his sister.  Bo told me that he told him that he needed to love his sister and asked him if he wanted to know about God – and then he listened to my son present the gospel.

Meanwhile, Emmiko and her little friend were playing elsewhere and the little girl asked Emmiko if she had trouble with her brothers and if she wished they weren’t around (I’m guessing the boy and his sister must’ve just had a fight since they both seemed mad at the other).  Emmi told me that she stopped and told her, “No, I love my brothers, they are my best friends.  Are you a Christian?”  The girl said no, and so Emmiko asked if she’d like to learn about God, and the girl said yes.  And then when they walked their friends home, they asked their grandmother if the kids could come to church with us this weekend.

I am delighted.  But I am also convicted.  I had not prayed for Emmi’s little friend.  I might have said a quick prayer right after she asked me to, but I forgot about the kid as I was dealing with my own busy ‘grown up’ life.  But God hears the prayers of children.  And He blesses their efforts.  Both my son and daughter now have a renewed enthusiasm about becoming missionaries.  They both also told me they want to study God’s Word more intently so they will have the right words to say.  That is so incredible to me.  When I was a kid, that was simply not the type of thing that was ever on my mind.  So if you think about it, will you pray for our neighbor’s grandchildren, Kaylie and her brother, Manny?  

Thank you, *so* much, Lord, for giving me children who love You.  Please keep them tightly, and don’t let them lose their exuberance for sharing Your love and Your Word.  Let them also love one another and have an unbreakable bond as they serve You. Let me also have the courage, when opportunities come up, to share Your love with others.

In other news, Ryann and Emmiko butchered two chickens for me this morning.  They have been boiled and de-boned and are ready to become chicken tacos for lunch tomorrow.  The chickens, I mean, not my daughters.  Hooooray for fresh poultry!  And hooray for good fruit. 

Luke 6–44"^(A)For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush.

April 28th, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 13 Comments

Lucky for me, no kidney issues yet.  We fly out of Boston tomorrow, so hopefully it’ll stay a non-issue till I get to my cozy little house. Thanks for all the tips and the helpful-hint emails.  You guys are awesome.

And the conference went really well. Superbly well, actually. This job is *the* greatest.  I love Rosetta Stone, and they even surprised us by having lunch delivered to us both days.  That’s just plum nice.  And see? I finally got my affiliate banner up over there in my side bar, so iffen you’re planning to buy the greatest language program know to humankind, feel free to buy it over here

And the workshop I taught went well. As tempting as it was, I ended up *not* giving the presentation in song or with dance numbers.  A lot more people showed up than I expected. But I didn’t get nervous at all, and it was nice because everybody asked a lot of good questions. 

One of the best parts of the weekend was getting to hang out with fellow blogger, Prodoceo.  She and her crew were manning the Alpha Omega table.  She is so great – despite the fact she is extraordinarily pretty (seriously, it was intimidating).  Me and Coie went with her whole crew to a 50’s diner the first night and we had a great time.  Our waitress’s name was Flo.  How can you not have fun when you have a waitress named Flo? I hope I get to see her again soon (Prodoceo I mean… not Flo).  One warning tho… do not drive with that lady.  S.C.A.R.Y.  Linda, next time let me drive, K?

 And the saddest part of the weekend was seeing Maggie Hogan the Magnifico …but only in passing.  We didn’t get to hang out once — talking in the convention hall just doesn’t count..  No worries, tho, we’ve got a party planned for our trip to FPEA.  Whoo hoooo!  I wish I would have gotten a picture of her.  My eyes popped out when I saw her. She has lost like 100 pounds.  She looks like a super model.  

In other news, taxi drivers are not normal.  I never knew that before. *yipes*  But I figured out that I do like MA.  It looks nothing like what I pictured.  I mean, you can’t even SEE it on the map.  I figured it would just be a little hill with about four streets, but it’s actually big enough to hold two cities.  And it’s really beautiful.  So that was fun.

So now we’re done with trips until the end of May.  It’ll be good to get back to the farm.  Happy sigh. 

April 26th, 2008 - Posted in conventions | | 0 Comments

So, the day after tomorrow Coie and I are off to the MASSHope convention.  I *was* looking forward until I found out (today) that I’ve been scheduled to do a workshop.  Eeeeeeps! Actually… after the room stopped spinning and the hot flashes subsided, I’ve started looking forward to it; I think it will be pretty fun.  And if I run out of things to talk about, I suppose I can always segue way into my interpretive dance routine.  

In other news, I remembered what I was going to tell you last time I blogged.  This is so cool – you know how we had a new bunch of eggs in the incubator?  Well, eleven hatched over the weekend, but what was really neato was last Tuesday Emmiko heard some noises coming from the old shed, and when she went to investigate she found a bunch of broken egg shells and a mama sitting on four fluffy little fellas.  We were all so surprised.  I suppose we shouldn’t have been, I mean, I suppose that’s the natural way it generally happens.  Golly are they cute! and it is so sweet seeing them skip after their mommy. 

In other other-ly news, I’m sorry to announce that I’ve been having discipline issues with my kidneys. They’re totally working against me.  I have *no* idea how they learned to manufacture their own gravel, but they did, and they’re good at it. So anyways, a couple weeks ago I had to go in for a CT scan, and then this morning I drove allllllll the way down to Knoxville to hear the results.  My doctor confirmed that *both* kidneys have created quite a collection for me.  And then he tells me that my right kidney has also made a rock about the size of my head.  Yep, I don’t know how I’m gonna get it out, but I hope I can think of something because I’m not particularly keen on the doctor’s quacky solution.  I didn’t catch the all the details on how it works but I distinctly heard the words: Laser, Explosions, Blasts, Particles, and three tons of Dynamite.  

Coie said they ought to just poke a hole in my back and then turn me upside down and shake me.  That’s how I get the picks out of my guitar when James drops them in the hole. Anyways, I’m just praying my bowling ball stays put until I can get back home.  I can’t think of anything *less* fun than giving birth to a kidney stone on a crowded airplane.   

Ok, I guess I better go start packing again.  And if you are going to be at the convention in MA this weekend come see us at booth 200!  And feel free to bring us pretzels and/or cookies.  Last weekend it was so busy that we almost starved to death.  

April 22nd, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 0 Comments

So… wow, I mean, really… wow.  Coie and I just finished up our very first Rosetta Stone show.  We like this gig.  When we wrapped things up, our boss let us know that we broke a record for sales.  And Coie and I ended up making as much in two days than what she makes in three months at Home Depot.  Yep, I’ll say it again… wow. 

So not only was that marvelously astonishing and stunning, but we also had entirely enormous portions of fun.  We got there two hours earlier than our Rosetta Stone ‘boss’, so we decided to jump right in to see if we could figure out how to set up the booth all by our selves – because after this show, we are pretty much on our own.  

We started by pulling a bunch of foreign stuff out of boxes and trunks.

And one thing we pulled out was a total stumper.  We spent about a quarter of an hour trying to fathom what in the world we were looking at.  Finally I snagged a pair very brainy looking 14 year olds (who had accidentally strayed into grabbing distance) and asked them to figure it out.  It ended up being the display backdrop (pictured here behind Co), which took them about 4 seconds to figure out and set up.  Once that was up, we began hanging the banners.  And when I say “we”, naturally, what I mean is, “Coie”

 After that, the set up was a snap, and the end result looked really nice

The next morning the show was underway bright and early.  We jumped right in explaining and giving demos of the most excellent new Rosetta Stone Version 3 program.  And when I say "we", I mean "we".  Yeah, there were about a billion people at our booth almost the entire time, so I had to actually do stuff.

 I still can’t believe how many copies were purchased. 

One of the highlights during the show was meeting fellow bloggers, PlainJane and BetweenTheLines (at least I thought she said her blog was called BetweenTheLines, but I can’t seem to pull it up or find it again). Anyways, they were so nice and I was excited that they stopped by.  I was bummed I did *not* get to see DandelionSeeds (Amy… where were you??!!)

And to top off the whole trip, we got to meet my son’s hero, Mr. Chuck Black, the author of The Kingdom Series (you can see the set of books right there to the left in my sidebar).  I love this family.  His wife is absolutely beautiful and so magnificently delightful; I sure wish we would have had more time to visit with them. 

They were so great, and they were so nice not to show *any* fear when Coie and I mobbed them.  I couldn’t stop grinning like a big goofy pumpkin.  I had “GROUPIE” written all over me.   So now I have a photo to show my son.  See the armor in the background?  So cool.  I wish Bobo could have been there.  Although it was probably safer for Mr. Black that he wasn’t. 

Anyways, thanks for all the well wishes and so forth.  I feel so entirely happy and blessed; it was all so great, but I am glad we will be home tomorrow at noon so I can lock the rest of my family into a strangle hold.  My daughter, Ryann, is just unbelievable and has done a stupendous job holding down the fort with her daddems over the weekend.  And my sister was so awesome to call and check on them constantly during the hours when Geoff was at work. Hip Hip Hoooray! What a perfect weekend.  

EDIT…..  I forgot to mention my lovely lovely lovely friend’s exciting Birthday Blog Give Away Bonanza this week.  Check out Marshie- Mellows site and win a ton of neato stuff!

April 19th, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 0 Comments

So first of all, *yipppeeeee*… I’m 36.  It was good of my parents to have me on Tax Day.  Incidentally, it also happens to be Ronald McDonald’s birthday.  It’s also the day the Titanic sunk.  There’s a connection there somewhere, I just know it.  Anyways, I’ve been waiting a long time to be 36. 

I’m already having a splendid birthday week. All sorts of niceties have happened.  I’ll start with my favorite news first…  I’m writing articles again.  Yep, it’s true.  I’ll be featured in the July/Aug edition of a truly fabulous magazine and then again in their Sept/Oct issue.  Isn’t that fun?   If you are not already a subscriber to Home School Enrichment, I heartily recommend that you become one.  You will love it!   They are a top notch publication, and I am excited to be a part of things. 

Ok, my second fun news is that our last pregnant goat, Daisy, finally done had her overdue kids.  She had one stark snowy white little girl that I named Posie and a brown and white boy that Coie named Felix.  They were both enormous.  We’ve doubled our goat herd with the birth of our seven new babies over the last couple months.  Four boys and three girls (it should be 4 girls… poor Periwinkle).

Ok, thirdly, Coie and I fly to MN in two days.  We are going to have *SO*  *MUCH*   *FUN*  Pray that I don’t drop down dead or have an apoplectic fit in the aisle on the plane.  I do not fly well.  

And in other news, Dippy is totally reading books now. Today he read an entire Bob Book from start to finish.  I love those cheesy little books. I am so excited about that.  What a clever little lad I have.

Also, have you guys seen the Virtual Conference that Heart of the Matter is putting together?  It looks pretty excellent.  I think that’s a convention that I don’t want to miss! 

Ok, I gotta go pack.  I’ll post again when me and Coie get to MN 

April 14th, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 0 Comments

I meant to post earlier but this has been one busy week.  First of all — I’ll just get the majority of the bad news out of the way —  poor little Periwinkle died.  We don’t know why, but it almost seemed like she had nerve damage.  It is hard losing an animal (especially the cute ones) but it is simply a part of farm life.  This is something that we have been learning to understand and accept over the last three years.  But it’s still a downer.  Poor little cute thing.  So the moral of the story is: Don’t have baby goats.

And summer has hit TN. It boiled all week long.  I heard it’s supposed to cool down over the weekend, and I hope that’s true. TN is a state of extremes.  It was like 137 degrees every day last week.  But the nice thing is that everything is *so* pretty and almost a fluorescent green.  I like that part.  I don’t love the bugs that come with it, though.  And I keep finding these massive huge ants in my kitchen.  Un-nerving. They’re like the size of baseballs.

In other news, I’ve managed to make an Uber-twit of myself several times this month.  It’s bad enough being a nimrod, but it’s decidedly worse when you’re a nimrod in front of somebody else.  The first episode was actually Coie’s fault.  It was her last week as a head cashier (she was recently promoted to a position which is equivalent to a department head – that is simply astonishing given the fact she’s so young and hasn’t been there that long) *anyways* she had been getting off work around 9:30 and she always calls right before she leaves, so naturally when the phone rang it could only be her (nobody else calls the house number because I never pick up the phone when it rings unless it’s Coie).  So Coie calls at 9:24, and I pick up the phone and fairly shriek: “HEELLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOO   MOOOKERS!  And it was my pastor.  He replied, “uuhhhhhh, ummmmmm”.  Yeah.  *awkward*  My kids thought it was great.  So the moral of the story is: Don’t answer the phone.  

The second thing was worse.  You know how my sister is coming down from AK next month?  Well her husband had searched far and wide and sent my kids this race car track with loop de loops and such – it was a toy that he had when he was a kid and loved so much that he found one for my boys.  And then it dawned on me that when they get here Uncle Charley’s gonna want to play with the car set because Jess will undoubtedly make him leave all his own toys at home.  

But there’s a problem, see?  Because after having it for two months, the box was left out and King James the Tyrannical busted up the box and lost a bunch of pieces. My boys were beside themselves.  Bobo took the majority of the responsibility because he’s the oldest and he knew he should have made sure it stayed up high in the closet.  He actually cried about it, and it wasn’t because his toy was ruined — he takes it very personally when things don’t get taken care of.  It shows a lack of respect for the giver of the gift, and also shows that the gift didn’t mean enough to look after.  He can’t stand the thought of displeasing the ones he loves.

So after I tell them that Jess and Charley are coming to visit, I ask them, “So…what are you gonna do when Uncle Charley gets here and wants to see the race track?”   Good heavens, they went into a panic and Dippy started bawling his head off and said, “Can you email him and tell him what happened?”  And I told him, “No way, man.  It wasn’t my toy.  I took care of the stuff he gave me” (in truth I actually considered finding and buying another set as a cover up—but no.  I wouldn’t be doing my boys any favors by bailing them out) So Dippy begged to call him on the phone so he could tell Uncle Charley what happened and get it over with.  So he did, and he is one lucky little seven-year-old to have such a gracious and kind Uncle.  But they both still feel dreadful about the whole thing.

That was a bummer of a lesson for all of us.  So the moral of the story is: Don’t let your kids have any toys.  And if that’s not practical then I guess the moral of the story is: Don’t have any four year olds.  Or something like that.

April 12th, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 0 Comments

No, it’s not my anniversary, it’s actually my sister’s BUT I’m the one who gets the grand surprise.  Jess told me earlier that her perfectly perfect husband is bringing her to TN next month for their one year celebration!  I had to yank my kids’ big heads – one by one – from out of the ceiling because they all went thru the roof when I told them.  Holy Moly, this year has been one exciting thing after another.  YIPPPEEEEEEE!!!!!  I cannot wait!

And in other fun news, we got the new Version 3 Rosetta Stone program yesterday.  My kids literally spent over three hours playing with it this morning.  I had to tell them, “Ok… NO MORE LEARNING.  Turn it off and do something else”. Within the first three lessons they were already speaking and reading the language. Seriously.  I’ve never seen anything like it. Their methodology is nothing short of genius.  I am really excited about this program and I am thrilled to be representing it.  

And I can’t believe that Coie and I fly out next Thursday for our first show.  I hope we do well, and I hope we are able to sell a ton.   I’m bringing my camera and computer along, so if you’re going to be there, you’ll have to let me get some pictures with you!  And I also found out that Maggie the Most Magnificent is going to be at the MA and FL conventions.  I *love* that lady; she is so fun. And her Mystery of History is my all time favorite homeschool resource… although, I have to admit, Rosetta Stone is now also tied for first..

In other news, I got a special delivery in the mail today from my favorite Book Fairy.  Has anybody heard of the Stephen Lawhead books?  I am going to start Book One tonight. And you’ll be glad (or still bored) to hear that I’m finally almost completely done with The Idiot.  

Lastly, Bo’s dog, Kobe, has become Periwinkle’s mother.  He loves that little goat.  Isn’t that sweet?  All they do is snuggle.

Ok, I better go find something productive to do.  I’ve been online all day. 

PS Lisa has another *awesome* contest running, you should check it out!

PPS YIPPPEEEEE times 2 that my little sis will be here next month!!!!  God sure is nice to me

April 9th, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 0 Comments

I don’t care that he has a cool name, Fyodor Dostoyevsky is not going on my list of favorite 1800s authors.  I’m almost done with his book, titled, The Idiot, and I’m considering skipping the rest of it altogether, but I will probably just see it thru since I’ve already invested several weeks on it.  There’s nothing worse than being held hostage by an unenjoyable book.  Dostoyevsky is dark, melancholy, a bit sideways, and a total socialist.  I don’t mind that he’s a socialist, and I actually find delving into the mindset of pre-Hitler/Stalin times fascinating.  But Heavens-to-Betsy, I seriously wonder if the guy truly had mental issues.   I can’t wait to get back to my Trollope, Southworth, and Bronte books. !800s British and American authors seem to have had a great deal more decorum and propriety than French and Russian ones.

In other news, if you are downright sick and tired of hearing about goats, you’ll want to skip this section.  I went out to the barn yesterday and found one of the new baby kids dead.  It was just all limp and curled back and, well, dead looking.  So I went over and picked it up (in a panic) and it sorta flopped its head around.  Long story short, it wasn’t dead but was getting dead pretty quick.  I brought it into the house – and OF COURSE I just happened to be home alone with the little kids.  Bad goat things always seem to happen when I’m by myself – so anyways, I made Bobo run out and milk Belle and then I put the milk into a medicine dropper and was able to feed Periwinkle.  Coie came home and took over from there. At one point she wondered if she should just shoot it and put the poor thing out of its misery (is it just me, or do my girls seem over anxious to kill stuff?).  The poor little thing was not able to stand up — it couldn’t even lift its head.    Anyhow, Coie kept working with her and several hours later the little girl sprung back to life.   

And after it came back to life, it rewarded us by dropping some goat by-product. So we came up with the ingenious idea of making goat nappies by using little boys underwear and absorbent female hygiene products.  Later that evening she had to wear James’ Spiderman undies. He was more than happy to share.

So I guess Periwinkle is gonna stay inside with us for awhile.  She kept Coie up ALL NIGHT.  Ha ha. 

And as if playing Animal Rescue 911 was not enough to keep us occupied, me and geoff also *finally* did our dumb taxes for 07.  Is there anybody else out there who battles lunacidal rushes of blind rage while doing taxes?  If not, then, uh, me neither.  Anyways, we finally got them done and hopefully we will be able to automatically apply the refund we would have gotten to the $22,000 we owe the IRS. Geoff is still confident that our CPA who misfiled our taxes two years in a row is working to fix that little sweetheart of a problem.  Some of you have asked how all that was going, and hopefully it’s going well.  <grinding my teeth / fake smiling>

And in non crazy author, dead goat, maniacal tax preparation news …

I am very excited for my daughter, Ryann.  She was recently asked to become a columnist for a magazine called, Godly Girls, after she submitted an article about the life of Pastor Wurmbrand .  The timing was really neat.  For a while my daughter has been obsessed with reading about the lives and work of different missionaries, and especially those who have suffered persecution or death for their faith. Her column for Godly Girls will highlight the lives of steadfast Christians, include interviews with missionary kids, book reviews, etc.  We are all excited for her.  And it is a wonderful little magazine.  The same family (the Masloske’s) also publishes a version for young men called, Abandoned to God.  My son keeps all of the copies and reads them repeatedly.   

Here is the Godly Girls website if you’re interested in subscribing or learning more   And here is the website for Abandoned to God

Ok… I’m off to check on our new little house intruder. I sure hope those goat nappies hold up…

April 7th, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 0 Comments

My eldest girls look so sweet.  This pic was taken yesterday… yet it no longer properly portrays what Coie looks like, I’ll explain in a minute. 

We had some friends come over from church so they could see the new little baby goats.  And it was perfect timing, too, because Coie’s goat, Belle, was considerate enough to have three little kidgits that very morning.  It was a fun field trip for our friends; they also got to see the rest of the farm and Coie showed them how the milking is done. 

It was a nice visit, and I love these ladies…

…but we ended up spending most of the afternoon outside.  And that’s a problem for Coie and me (note the proper sentence structure for my sister, Jessica the Grammar Nazi) because we are 100% albino.  And people from Whitey-ville don’t do so well parked under full UV rays.  And, naturally, you get more burnt on areas closest to the sun, and so my big old honker is now sporting a bright, striking blatant red.   Coie got it worse, tho.  Her whole head looks like a big crimson party balloon.  And she had to go to work like that today.  

I also got the dumbest tan ever… it’s from the wrist down.  I was wearing a long sleeve shirt and so now it looks like I dunked my left hand in a pot of scalding water.  And for whatever reason, it’s only my left hand.  Weird.  And boy did it hurt.  Coie was able to fix things a little bit.  We split open an aloe vera stalk (or whatever it’s called) and rubbed that on, and she also found that sliced potatoes work well to soothe a sunburn.  At first I laughed at her, but then ended up admitting that it really did help.  She also slathered tomato paste all over her face, neck and arms.  I should have gotten a picture, she looked like something out of a horror film.  I didn’t try the tomato paste.  She said it worked, but holy cow did she look awful and smell funny.

Anyhow, Coie’s new baby goats are sweet.  It was nice of Belle to have three of them.  Two girls and a boy.  She named them Kiwi, Periwinkle and Basil.  And I mean that Coie named them, not Belle.

In other news… it’s just two weeks until we’re at the MACHE convention!  Wooo Hoooo!  Email me at jeneferig @ gmail.com  if you are going to be there so we can plan a time and place to meet!

Lastly, my friend, Lisa, is having a great contest over at her site.  She makes these incredible soy wax candles that smell like heaven and last forever.  You should head over and enter!  I’m hoping I win.  I’m a sucker for lovely candles.

And Lastly Last, tomorrow is Charley the Wonder Brother’s Birthday.  Hip Hip Hoooray!!!  I am *so* blessed to have that guy as an in-law.  When my mother was alive she prayed fervently and diligently that her daughters would all marry strong, godly, faithful men.  I really believe that her prayers brought about the great marriages we now enjoy… and it compels me all the more to pray for my kids’ future spouses.  Happy Birthday Mr. Charles Preston!!

April 3rd, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 0 Comments