It might be easier this way. . .

After my last post, I was told that I am the worst blogger in the neighborhood (yes, they are all talking about me. . .:) and that people would have to wait to read my blog because it is so dang long. So, I will try to be better at doing this this way. Short, often and sweet (I can't promise any of these, but I'll try!).

A quick shout out to all those websites that let you download pictures and keep them there. Costco, Snapfish, and I even think Walmart have versions of these (I use Costco to avoid shipping costs). But the reason I love these is that if you have a catastrophe - and I did almost burn my house down last week - the are saved to an outside server - not just my computer. Oh I back my pictures up all of the time on my computer, laptop, and even DVDs, but in a fire, I assure you I will not be carrying out my iMac!! Anyways, just a thought. . .

Also I have a story about Jonah I wanted to share. I was delivering something to a neighbors house recently. It had been a while since I had seen her and actually talked to her and I noticed she had lost some weight. I told her how good she looked and she told me she had given up soda (see my side blog . . Ethan), and that she was drinking this green tea. She is a member and fairly active (as much as you can be with her last few callings) with a fairly inactive family. She is so generous so she directly went to her car to grab me a small bottle of this tea. I, not knowing much about teas, thought to myself that I knew the grandmaster of teas and would call Emily when I got home. I thanked this neighbor and she just said how she had turned to this instead of the soda. Meanwhile, Jonah had gotten out of the car and was standing with me. He looked up at me and, right in front of this neighbor said "Mom, are you supposed to have tea?" Wow - it didn't surprise me he noticed, but the fact that he didn't hesitate to say something in front of someone that may be offended, kind of opened my eyes. The neighbor quickly said "Oh I thought about that too but I think it is okay, you're mom will need to decide for herself, though." Now I could chalk this up to Jonah and his sometimes not being really socially appropriate - saying things that could possibly hurt someone else's feelings, but he was somewhat quiet about it and just asking in an innocent kid way. I thought about this after repeatedly telling Jonah how proud I was of him, and that I wasn't sure if I should drink it (which, it turned out, I shouldn't). It made me think about how strong our children are going to have to be in the years to come - socially life is so hard, and our kids need to be able to voice their thoughts and stand up for what they believe. I am so proud of Jonah!!