Rachel~Oh, sweetie, prayers for your grandmother and uncle...:grouphug:

GOOD MORNING ALL MY CHICKIE FRIENDS AND GARY! :wave:

Been MIA for awhile - our 8 year old son whom we adopted at 3 years and 2 months old was suspended from school for stealing - he went to a psych hospital where they are pretty sure he has attachment disorder. OH MY - that is NOT good - Please pray for him -

GUESS WHAT????? My wonderful parents paid for me to go to LA Weight Loss!!
I'm SO EXCITED!!! You have to pay upfront and with my loss weeks, my stabilization weeks and my maintenance weeks it was $669.40!!! I was crying everyday over AJ's dilemma and my mom said that if I lose 140 pounds and get healthy, that I would feel better and be able to deal with the kids better. I'm so thankful!

God is SO GOOD!!! \O/

Does anyone have any good fish recipes???

Take care and prayers for all -

Latest update
 

Greetings all!

As it turns out we did not leave town so I'll be able to check on my mom and dad. If we have power I'll try to keep you posted.

The traffic out of Houston was and still is horrendous in places....people on the road for 20 hours for a normal 4 hour trip. Wouldn't have been able to go east because they had mandatory evacuations of cities in Louisiana yesterday. So the Lord will provide and protect as only he can do....

Wilma and Michele ~ Thank you for your prayers.... :thanks:

Rachel ~ I would like to help your grandma and uncle if we can. Do you know their exact address? Here in Houston people who want to move to a shelter can call 311 and ask for assistance. They are taking those unable to get out whether for medical, physical or alot of other reasons. they have buses going out to pick people up. They assess their condition and needs and were either busing them out of Houston or to a local shelter. What are their names and their cell phone numbers. I don't know how well cell phones will be working after Rita comes through but at least knowing where they are we can try to get to them. I'm sending you a personal email with my contact information for you.

Lori ~ Your parents are a really blessing. Congratulations about being able to do the LA Weight Loss program.
We'll be praying for your son....love on him as much as you can.

Gary ~ Good luck in selling your house in Washington.... I read a really good book awhile back you might like...it's called "Men are like Waffles and Women are like Spaghetti" by Bill and Pam Farrell. They have a lot of other good relationship books. You'd especially like the chapter on communication. It's pretty accurate. You an Angie need to have a plan and not let the kid(s) manipulate.....something which they are so good at. ;)

Well I still have some last minute things to take care of.
Take care...

Love you gals and Gary too!
Karen

Karen, your response to Rachel just gives me chills. God bless you for wanting to help.

HI GALS :wave:

JUST GOT HOME FROM WORK....DON'T HAVE TIME TO POST MUCH AT THIS TIME...HOWEVER..

MUCHO PRAYERS FOR KAREN AND HER FAMILY... RACHEL'S FAMILY MEMBERS ...AND ANY OF MY OTHER FRIENDS THAT MAY BE IN THE PATH OF RITA!!!!!!!!

GOD BLESS YOU ALL...GARY

Hi!
 

E.Z.- PrayersGod's will be done witht he sale of the house, I love brugers bagels, but no this was Thomas's everything bagel it was good though.
Pryaers for Karen and lateralus and their families for safety and protection.
Lori let us know how you make out that is awesome. I am fine, I got stuck working mandatory ot yesterday so worked 2p till 7:30 this morening. But other than that everything going well. Prayer for people in the wrath of rita. God bless, gotta work days tom, then home for a couple days camping and playing with the baby. catch ya later sue

Salmon Recipe
 

SALMON RECIPE FOR LORI~~~~~~~~

I am so happy for your FUTURE WEIGHT LOSS at LA WEIGHT LOSS!!! :) ......as far as fish recipes go, here is one for salmon that we like in our home.


SALMON RECIPE ....(for 4)

1 Tbs dark brown sugar
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp ground ginger
4 salmon fillets...1/2 inch thick...about 1 1/2 pounds

Coat broilerproof pan with Pam or line with foil...pre-heat broiler to high

Mix sugar, mustard, soy sauce and ginger in small bowl. Make shallow cuts ~diagonally~ across salmon

Brush salmon with brown sugar mixture....

Broil 6 inches from heat for 5 minutes or until fish flakes with a fork

Serve with brown rice or couscous and steamed or frozen peas

Easy and healthy..........ENJOY

Gary

Another Recipe
 

LORI~~ Here is one that we love from the George Foreman cookbook........

1/4 cup clover honey
2 teaspoons fresh dill, finely minced
2 teaspoons fresh parsley, finely minced
1 Tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 6oz salmon steaks

If you have a George Foreman grill then you probably have this recipe...

Coat grill with cooking spray and pre-heat for 5 minutes

Heat the ingredients together

Grill salmon for 4 minutes....THEN spoon sauce over each piece and continue grilling for 2~4 minutes until flakes with fork

Angie also puts the sauce on the salmon...wraps each in foil...then grills them on the BBQ for about 6 minutes ...when she doesn't want to clean the G.F. Grill

AUNT SUE~~YIPEE!!! Good to see you dear! How was the baby shower? Bet it was great and she was the LIFE of the party!! I hope work isn't too stressing for you! My daughter has had a few rough days in a row lately with traffic and all...she works about 50 miles from home, but the commute can be well over 2 hours in the afternoon! Are you taking the Sunday school kids camping or family? Enjoy....good?...weather while you can!! :cool:

KAREN Glad you did not have to leave...(yet anyway) Prayers for your mom and dad. I have been watching the progress of Rita and praying for you folks! What a darn shame about those elderly on the bus :( ...and now it looks like they might not have had to leave...so many sad stories these past few weeks. Praise our awesome LORD for being there in the pain! Thanks for the advice, Angie and I make a point to "communicate" ...of course I am lousy at it :lol: but seriously...we try very hard to "not get too far apart"...we did that early in our marriage...about 6 or 7 years ago...we agreed to NEVER let that happen again...although it sure was nice and quiet around here for a few months :lol: when we weren't speaking to each other...not so funny thing...we both WERE speaking to the other BUT we thought the other wasn't speaking to us...so...agin failure to COMMUNICATE! In her daughter's behalf~~she doesn't try to manipulate between Angie and I (much)...she may between Angie and Lara's dad...I stay out of those issues!

Sending :flow2: :sunny: :sunny: :flow2: so you and your family stay dry!

WILMA~ Hope you had a great day at work and a nice week-end with your DH. Is the house a little bit quieter these days with #1 son gone? Hope the job situation is still holding true for the kids and they get the jobs they "WANT"! Thanks for the encouragement for Angie and I. As far as Washington goes...who knows...maybe the house won't sell and we end up there anyway! The people that looked at it seemed very interested...but I learned a long time ago in real estate...nothing...is ever for sure!

MICHELE Hey babe~~ As you know...once from California...ALWAYS from California!! Heck, I was born here in San Diego! Nah, Angie and I really~ really loved the area up there...but the kids are not there...not entirely sure where she is at on the issue...but it was just too hard for me to leave my friends and family...at this time....if the house doesn't sell, who knows...maybe we end up there anyway! I will wave to you when I pass L.A.!

RACHEL~ Again..Prayers for your grandma and uncle!

Well, off to dinner......

HAVE A GREAT WEEK-END LADIES!

Anyone watching THE BIGGEST LOSER? I really enjoy that show...and WOW! What progress the losers have made that were eliminated! AWESOME!

Hurricane Rita Weather Radar
 

Hey :wave:

If you guys want to keep a watch on the storm this is a great website:

http://radar.weather.gov/radar/loop/.../si.khgx.shtml

If you use the site's refresh button from time to time it will update to the current info.

Haven't gotten any rain yet.... We can't decide whether to take a nape and then wake up before the worst comes through or just try to sleep through it all....yeah right.....

Either way it'll be an adventure.... ;)

be back later.... :)

Karen

I still haven't heard from Rachel yet. Anyone know how to reach her?

We haven't had any heavy rain yet....that's still to come.....
We saw a really nice rainbow earlier this evening. Reminded me of God's promise in Genesis. Way to go God!

We had to duct tape one of our doors to make sure the water doesn't come in... We'll see how well it works.

Gary, don’t feel badly. Communication is an art that I don’t think we’ll ever master! It happens to all of us. But kudos to you and Angie for making an effort to keep the communication open. Richard and I can read the same article and he will invariably interpret it differently from the way I do. Richard’s British, so we’ve learned to be very specific in the way we phrase things, and very precise too….or else we end up eating our words…..

The Ferrell’s book caught my eye as Jennifer (our oldest) and I were driving from Atlanta to Indiana. It’s amazing the books you can pick up at truck stops! It’s great to see Christian books there. It passed the time and was a great source of amusement.
Hilariously funny but very accurate in the descriptions.

At Jennifer’s church they interview a woman who had recently written the book “For Women Only.” I’ve read it and discussed it with Richard and he pretty much concurs with her findings. I’d be curious if your view are similar to the ones she wrote about in the book. If Angie likes to read that might be a really good read for her. But you should screen it first…heh heh

Well, going to check the latest weather reports. The phone connection keeps cutting out so this might be the last post for a little while....

I'll be back....keep on praying!

love you guys!

karen

Hi Again! :wave:

Thanks for all the encouraging comments! You guys are the best!

GARY: The recipes sound AWESOME! Thank you so much! I am going to concentrate on fish and poultry this time around. I know it's so much better for me than the beef is. I'll just do the beef occasionally.

KAREN: Thanks for the nice note and the prayers. We won't give up on our little guy. I just keep hugging him and telling him how much we love him. He will go to one on one counseling starting on Monday. Our Pastor is meeting with him on Sunday after church. Yep, my parents are awesome. They adopted me at 3 months old and God really matched us perfectly! They are 86 and 88 and I am SO blessed to have had them so long!

SUE: How's that sweet baby? Where did you go camping? You need it after that work schedule! Wow!

Prayers for all those displaced by Katrina and Rita - God Bless~~

Update on Rita
 

Rita is now onshore, off to our north-east. We are fine as is Joey (the rabbit) and the house! We, and most of Houston, dodged the bullet with this one, so although we don’t know for sure, we think my mom and dad and brothers ok too. Landfall was about 5 miles east of the Texas/Louisiana border, which is about 100 miles to our east, with the storm moving north-west. We never got any hurricane force winds and only minimal rain, although both the rain and wind continue to come sporadically. Damage is pretty minimal; a few tree branches down and obviously many leaves and twigs around here and from the news reports only a few trees within Houston. Further north and to the east where the storm went and still is, is another story. We still have electricity and hopefully now the worst is over, we’ll continue to have electricity.

Later today or tomorrow we can un-box all the important papers, photos, and special valuables, out of their waterproof containers and put them back to their proper places. Or maybe we should just leave them there until hurricane season is over.

As to the approximately 1 million they’re guessing evacuated out of the coastal regions, not quite sure when they’ll be returning to their homes what with the lack of petrol/gas and the inability of the freeways to carry that number of cars in a short period of time. We've heard that there are downed power lines across I-10 between Texas and Louisiana. Pray for travel mercies and wisdom for those who will be travelling back home.

Please continue to pray for those who have received the worst part of Rita and those where she stalls out.

Rachel ~ if you would like for me to check on your grandma and uncle let me know.....I'd be more than happy to.

Gary ~ Thanks for sending us the :flow2: :sunny: :sunny: :flow2: Your prayers were heard and felt! Those recipes sound great...will have to try them out.

Well, have a wonderful day today....we still have a few more hours to sit out the high winds...but we're doing fine.....Praise God.

Grace and peace,
karen

Karen~ Been watching the news here since 5 am....Great (?) news on the damage from RITA so far...sad when you think about it...the damage done vs. what was expected....the loss of lives and damage from this "little" one. Keep those papers dry!

Angie just took the dogs for their saturday 3 miler, then she will be off to bell practice at church. I am waiting for my brother to come by, we are going to remove the flourescent light fixtures and put (start) can lights in my kitchen today. Then this afternoon it's USC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brother here gotta jam..........