Check out this recipe!!!

I bought this cookbook along with a bunch of others at an auction several years ago. Our nephews are coming to stay with us most of the week this week so Amanda was looking for some good recipes. She opens the book and is looking around and Garrett bumped the book and papers started falling out of the back of the book. I made Garrett go sit at the other side of the table to play and Amanda kept looking. As she turned pages, this cute little red envelope falls out. I saw that envelope and knew immediately what it was. The question was, was there anything still in it??? I picked it up and YES!!! Not only was there something in it but there was a $50 something in it! Crisp. Clean Straight from the bank. Poof, there it was! There should have been a drum roll and smoke and strobe lights! It was awesome!

Now for the significance of this. We just started tithing again. Well, Amanda did. She does the check book and she's always been more dedicated than me about that. We had slacked off about it but now that she's home with the boys and we only have one income she felt that, hey, we've trusted God this far, we had better trust him all the way. She has been giving our tithe and last night I also pulled my cash stash out of my wallet and put my secret reserve in the plate. I have auction money sometimes and I wanted to save it for something but I felt God telling me to put it in the plate just like Amanda has been feeling God tell us, "Give Me your tithe." Then today, God shows up and shows out. We both listened and did what God told us and he blesses us.

Malachi 3:10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

Ryan said blog some more so....

Since Ryan is the only person who has found our blog, we'll use his awesome pictures of the boys from Hope Group this week. Luke was zonked from VBS and Garett was, well Garrett. That boy never stops having fun. Full of energy and a heart of gold. In fact, he said one of the most awesome things this week. Amanda and I were talking about what if there was another rugrat and we asked Garrett "What would you do if you had another little brother?" His answer - "I'd love on him."

He hit it right on the head, didn't he?!?! Nothing more basic than that. I think most of us thought that way when we were his age - back when we were innocent, before we'd been burned. Before we'd seen what the world has to offer us. Garrett is old enough to have started seeing just a tad of what the world has to offer us but, you know what, he still loves everyone and everything. Sure, he gets upset and mad. He's human. When it boils down to it though, his heart shines through. When he's excited to go see his friends, when he's making friends with people he's never met (yeah, you know Garrett, talking to everyone!). He doesn't want to see anyone or anything get hurt. Not even the bugs that make Amanda scream bloody murder. He's got his mamma's heart and the joy of the Lord. Always laughing, always having fun, never met someone that he doesn't like. Makes you want some of what he has, doesn't it.

2He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18:2-4

1st Aggie Baseball Game

The Aggies beat the defending national champions Friday night and we got to watch it. Live and in person. O.K., we only lasted until the 7th inning stretch but the game was already in the bag. It was cold and I told Amanda we couldn't take a blanket (bad idea!) so we were freezing and Garrett was ready for bed. Not to mention, Luke had loaded his diaper up and we didn't want the people around us to tell us to leave so...

It was a great game. We sat in the cheap seats out in right field so the boys could play. Had a couple of fouls go right over our head, students all around us harassing the first base coach and the right fielder. Hot dogs, a tub of popcorn and a great big Dr. Pepper cost $6 more than our tickets but there's nothing like a fresh hot dog at a baseball game. Luke took the whole night to eat his hot dog. Could've had something to do with the fact that he was bumming peanuts off the guy behind us. Who knows. Garrett just sat in our laps and watched the entire game. Yes, Garrett. High energy never slows down Garrett. Sat still. Sat quiet. Luke on the other hand mimicked everything everyone around us did. Hollering, taunting, whooping! We're definitely going to have to take them to more games! Amanda even enjoyed it. Of course it was kind of hard for her not too, she was out with 3 handsome Garners watching her alma matter BTHO Oregon State! Whoop and Gig 'em!

'Bout time we updated the blog.

So we're redoing the boy's rooms right now. Amanda is hard at work picking out bedding, cleaning, arranging, painting etc. I helped a little but this is my big contribution. I think I had more fun. Garrett's room has a construction theme so I took him to the shop and we played on machines and took pictures to hang up in his room. Spent about an hour up there and operated all kinds of big boys toys and Garrett couldn't get enough. Can you blame him?

Luke's room is going to be the farm. I'm envisoning pictures of working cattle, getting eggs from the chicken coop, driving a tractor, digging a pond with a bulldozer. Gotta get some equipment in there somehow, right?!?!

We also planted our garden this weekend. Garrett and Luke planted everything. Garrett used his special planting tool for setting the depth of the seedhole - his finger. Luke got to plant the canteloupes. Not quite 2 yet but he sure likes to help out. Got some awesome boys!

Short, sweet, to the point. At least we're blogging finally. We've moved from the dark ages of dialup and have DSL now. Hopefully you'll see more since it doesn't take us six years to upload things anymore. Sweet!

What the heck is a blog????

OK, so I finally figured out what a blog is. Hopegroup has one and I thought, hmm, that's kinda cool. Now that Amanda has a state job that's not in ICU, she has all this time to read everyone else's blogs. She comes home and tells me about so and so's story or the cool pics of someone else's Christmas tree, yadda, yadda, yadda. I guess now everyone can be nosey in our lives, at least as much of our lives as we put on the net. And of course the grandparents can see pictures of the boys. That's all anyone really cares about, right???
Why the Garner family zoo you ask... Is it because the family is nuts? Yeah, we are, and we think it's great! Is it because dad and the boys are hyper? We are, but that's because boys are supposed to run and jump and wrestle and get dirty and hunt and play with machines and... Is it because we literally have a zoo at the house - 8 horses, 4 dogs, 2 cats, 13 chickens, about 20 fish, and whatever birds happen to come up to the feeder at the kitchen window. OK, yeah, that's a good reason too, but it's really all of the above. You know what, I remember when I was a little boy and would go to the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, TX and watch the animals, spend time with my grandparents, all that kind of stuff. It was a blast. Don't you love the fun of going to the zoo? Well, we're lucky because we live in The Garner Zoo.
When we have time, get bored, or have something really cool, we'll "blog" some more. That can be used as a verb, right? See, I'm catching on!
Here's pics of Luke trying to keep Gus from eating the ornaments and Garrett with his cookies he made.
Welcome to the zoo!