OUR WONDERFUL CHICKEN-LOVING LION, SLOBBERDOG!

Hello all our friends on the blog.  We want to give Slobberdog some space today, because he has kind of been missing out.

My Uncle Berend is here.  (My mother's eldest brother).  He is very upset that Slobberdog doesn't have a nice place to sleep anymore.  Mom said she would have to make a plan.  That's when we thought we should honour Slobberdog with a nice blog this week so that he gets some attention again!

So here is our little skit!



Everybody is very busy doing their work of the day. Especially Ruthi. She’s busy mopping the floor for Mommy. Then Ellen was eating chicken and she had a chicken bone. Slobberdog spotted that immediately and came, smiling and smiling towards Ellen’s chicken bone. Ruthi said, “Oh no! Slobberdog, Ruthi no like you!” Poor Ruthi didn’t know about the chicken bone. She thought Slobberdog was smiling because he was thinking RUTHI was going to taste delicious!



"Oh no!  Slobberdog, Ruthi no like you!"

Ellen felt so sorry for Ruthi, because she ran away screaming in terror. Ellen chucked the chicken bone at Slobberdog and ran off to comfort poor little Ruthi. Slobberdog was a very, very happy Slobberdog. Chicken bones are like Belgian chocolates to Slobberdog!

 Jerome thought the whole scene was hilarious. He was laughing his head off! HA! HA! HA! HA! Slobberdog was not amused. He says to himself ... “What’s that little twirp laughing about?  He better not be laughing at me! Is he LAUGHING at me?  Is he? Well is he?"



Slobber says, "I hope that little twirp is not laughing at me!"

But Jerome loves Slobberdog and would never want to hurt Slobberdog’s feelings. Because Jerome is deaf and many times nobody has time to talk to Jerome.  Then he often goes and sits and signs to Slobberdog, and Slobberdog "listens" to all his signing with great interest.  So when he sees that Slobberdog is fed up because of his laughing, he feels sorry for his good friend, and he goes and gives Slobberdog a great big cuddle!



But Slobberdog is still not too pleased.  Even though he really loves cuddles, he much prefers chicken bones. Jerome realises this, and off he goes, and comes back with a delicious chicken bone! Slobberdog was much, much happier now and was smiling and smiling again.

So sorry Slobberdog!  Here is a nice bone for you!

When Brendon saw how happy Slobberdog was with the chicken bones, he hobbled over to Slobberdog, (because remember Brendon had a big operation and they took a piece of bone out of his hip, so he can’t walk properly yet! But he managed to hobble over to Slobberdog, and brought HIS peace-offering too. Slobberdog was beginning to think it was Christmas! He was so happy and then in the end three “tigers” came over and gave Slobberdog a great big hug and SLOBBERDOG said “Aaaah! I love my FAMILEEEE!” And Ellen came over and patted his big nose and said ... “Aaaaah! And your famileeee loves you too, Slobberdog!”



The other news is that little Faith (Viv’s Faith) is now wearing glasses. She looks SO CUTE. She looks like a university lady. Mighty thinks she is the most beautiful little girl since Barbie. They have always loved each other since they were just babies.

Then there is this great story my Mom was reading to me yesterday.  Somebody sent it to her.  I asked her if we could put it on our blog and she said, YES!  Of course.  That's a great idea!  So here it is:

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet.  Beside him was a sign which said: "I am blind, please help!"  There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. Then he took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the little boy could hear a lot of clinking and could tell that the hat was beginning to fill up with coins.  A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.  That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were going.  The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the person who changed my sign this morning?  My hat filled up with coins so quickly! What did you write?"


The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way."

I wrote: "Today is a beautiful day ... but I cannot see it."


Both signs told people that you are blind.  But the first sign only said what the people already knew.  That you are blind.  The second sign, on the other hand, inspired the people to give to you, because it told them, not only that you are blind, but that they were so lucky that they are not blind.  Little boy, you shouldn't be surprised that the second sign was much better than the first one?


The little boy said, "Oh, I see Sir!  The moral of the Story is this:  Always be thankful for what you have.  You don’t have to be a genius to be creative.  Break out of the “average” mould. Think differently.  Think positively."




"That's right, Son!" Said the man, pleased.  "And when life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, find those 1000 reasons to smile, for they are surely there.  Embrace your past without regret. Face your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear.  Keep the faith and keep God near.


Never underestimate the power of your smile.


Always be aware of the power of a gentle touch. It has the power to lift someone’s spirits to a place of new hope and confidence.


And that is the end of the story.  I thought it was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l!  But guess what?  Mom says she doesn't understand it that much.  She feels sorry for the blind boy because that man didn't make him feel better about his blindness.  He just made the people feel better that they weren't blind.  Mom thinks that was kind of cruel.  But I don't think so.  What do YOU think?

FAMILY FOCUS
PIPPA 
http://pippaspassions.blogspot.com/

Pippa with her two sons, Christian and Jerome



I am certain that EVERYBODY wants to know all about Pippa because now THERE is somebody who is exceptional. Better than normal. Above average. I don’t think I have ever met anybody quite like Pippa, and I am so glad that she is my sister. She’s just amazing. She has so much energy and Mom loves her to bits. Mom is always saying ... “Oh if I only still had Pippa’s energy.”



Pippa wakes up really, really early in the morning and she gets about 6 little guys dressed. (Sometimes Teacher Sue is here to help her, but right now she has to do it on her own.) So these are her kids ~ Matthew who is 11, James who is 9, Mighty who is 7 (hiv+, Christian is 6 (hiv+), Jerome who is 4 (hiv+ and deaf) and lastly little Ruth, who will be 2 in December and is also hiv+ and GORGEOUS! We all adore that little girl ... everybody from Mommy right down to Jerome ... She is amazing.

Pippa will be taking over TLC one of these days. She is really running TLC but Mom is still the “big boss” for now. I am not sure how long it is going to take for Pippa to take over. I guess it’s a bit scary for her to have so much responsibility. But she runs the whole household. It’s a very, very big job. She has to shop for everybody. She has to manage the cooking for 100 people, sometimes more. She has to supervise all the staff and that’s hard because there are many of them and sometimes they don’t do their jobs well and she has to tell them to shape up. They don’t like it most of the time, but everybody does love Pippa and so most of the time there isn’t a big fight or anything like that. Even with Joanna, and Rhys, Zoe and Mom. They don’t usually yell at each other. They talk nicely and softly.

I once went to my friend’s house and his parents were really yelling at each other and that’s scary. I’m glad they don’t do that. But actually RHYS does! He can yell so that the guys in hell can hear him. He is really scary when he yells. I have to say that Pippa yells at us sometimes. Because it's our own fault when we are disobedient and we frustrate her. We are untidy and lose our school stuff and then she has to buy more and that makes her crazy. Yeah, she yells at us sometimes.  And Mom too, sometimes. Even the big boys can drive them both crazy sometimes. But that is why we are a family.



Pippa and Zoe



 Pippa is such a good manager. She always manages everything. Like when we go on holiday she packs up everything ... and I mean everything! Imagine doing that for 30 kids? But we do help her though. We are all there and she says, you take this, you take that, you take the other thing. Then we put it all around the buses and cars ... whatever we are travelling in, and she comes and packs it all up. She always says ... ‘One thing my Dad certainly taught me was how to pack for holiday!’  Pippa really knows how to love and how to sacrifice.

Pippa with Christian and Mighty

Pippa is a great cook.  Imagine cooking for our big family!

That is the thing that I love most about Pippa. When I think about her my heart goes soft and I get tears in my throat sometimes. To think she gave up her whole life for us. She is a real Jesus person. Like a Jesus with skin on. She has so much love and she helps everybody who asks for help. She never says ... “Oh go away” to the poor people or so. She always gives them something. She MIGHT sometimes call Zoe and ask her to deal with the poor people if she's very tired, because poor people are really Zoe’s passion and she loves to help them. But Mom and Pippa ... even though they love the poor people, their real passion is our family and all their kids.

We still have a lot more to say, but Mom says that the Blog experts tell us that your blog should never be much longer than 1000 words. So this one is now a bit more than a 1000 words which means that we have to make a PART 2, or otherwise, we have to make another blog and post it in two or three days time.

Kieran and I have argued about this. Kieran wants to do a Part 2 right now, and I think it is better to do another blog in two days time. Finally, Kieran has agreed with me because otherwise people will get bored when they have to read such a lot of stuff. I know that when I read, I like to read small bits now and again, not a big long thing all at once.

Well, Kieran is the opposite he can sit and read all day long. Even the BIBLE! Can you believe it? Even the Old Testament ~ all about Saul and Samuel and Methewship or whatever Jonathan’s son was called. Geeeez Louise, I tell you the truth I have no idea how he sticks that out.

Well, you wouldn’t know, Jesse, because you’ve never tried. You should try it sometime. Those are the coolest stories I have ever read. You will never find stories like that anywhere else ... well, maybe Lord of the Rings. But that’s about it. You should try it sometime, Jess.

No, no! I know I don’t like that stuff. It’s so BORING.

BORING? Well, you sit and gobble up every word when I tell you the stories ... what about that story about the widow and her little boy and the last drop of oil. And what about the story about when Moses parted the sea and all those soldiers were drowned. You loved those stories, you’re just lazy. You don’t want to read them for yourself.

Ya ... okay. You’re right. Maybe when I am older and can read better.

Jesse, you won’t read better until you read more.

Shoosh now Kieran, I’ve had enough of your whining. The thing is that we are not going to do a PART 2, but when we have too much news we will post it two or three days later. We will still do it all at once, because it’s easier for Mom that way. But then she will post it a few days later so that our friends don’t get BORED ... because MOST people are NORMAL Kieran ... like ME! LO!

Yeah well, who wants to be normal anyway? I’d much rather be exceptional.

What’s that?

Exceptional ... well, it’s kind of ‘not normal’ but better than normal. Above average I think.

W-h-a-t-e-v-e-r!

See you next time friends ... Yes, have a happy weekend!

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http://pippaspassions.blogspot.com/
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