Jacquie Kerongo

Jacquie and Lucas Summer 2011

 This is Jacquie, from Kenya Africa. She is beautiful both inside and out. We were blessed to have her stay with us for 10 months and now she is set to head home on October 17th. When the kids pray for Jacquie they pray for their friend and her family being reunited. Of course they say it more like, "And I pray for Jacquie who misses her family so she is going to see them but then she will miss us. Mommy, won't she miss us? I will miss her."

Gabe, Brody, Jacquie, Raegan Summer 2011

Little Brody started crying in the car when I announced that she would be flying back to Kenya. He has such a compassionate heart and such empathy. Where he gets it from must be my Mom or Brad's Mom cause it kinda missed the Becky and Brad pool:). Brody asked if we could go to Kenya to visit her--now that's a loaded question. Can we, yes. Can we afford to? 6 of us?! However, Grace has a missions trip planned for 2013 to Kenya and I am definitely going to begin praying for the possibility of Brody and I going on that trip! It's never too early to begin praying. He will then be 6. Is that old enough for a trip like that? I believe for him it will be--I think he is going to be our little missionary. If you have a prayer list or tink of it please pray for our dear friend Jacquie as she will begin doing ministry back in Nairobi. Pray for supporters, the right fit in a ministry, her physical safety on her return and once back home (some native Kenyans that came to live in America have been robbed and murdered when returning home.)

Thoughts of a 6 year old

Tonight I was praying with Raegan. I have been really working on being more intentional about my prayers. Being more specific for areas of praise and growth. Praying for my kids futures, including their potential spouse, college and careers. Tonight I specifically prayed that the Lord would make it clear to Raegan as she gets older for a career that would be fulfilling and really use her gifts and talents. I am amazed at how short sighted that may have been. When I was done praying she said, "Mom, I think I know what I want to be." I asked her "What" expecting something like, a pilot, teacher, dancer--you know the typical 6 year old response. She said, "I think I want to be a stay at home mom." Truly beautiful. I paused and took that in and then asked her why. In her tender 6 year old voice she said, "because then I can spend quality time with my kids each day." Of course now I am wondering how she feels about my work, which takes me all over creation. I asked if she wished I were a stay at home mom? She said that I have a good job and that she does get to be with me on weekends and I take vacation days to be with her so that was okay.

I realized tonight many things. One is that my daughters love language is quality time.

Harrassment!

In response to several people urging me to update my blog (since it has been over a year!) I thought I better. Especially since we now have 4 kids and little Lucas has been left in the dust. At this juncture i believe my mantra is "Do it now, it won't wait." Why? Because when I tell Gabe (3) to give me a minute before helping him on the toilet, in order to finish pulling lunch out of the oven, I now have another mess to clean up:) It's either on the floor OR he has opted to get off the toilet himself leaving treasures on the toilet seat! Lovely. I should buy stock in Lysol Wipes.

Life is always busy. Doesn't matter how many kids I just like the busy life. Whenever I try to slow down I find myself being lazy and just sleeping. I love sleep but it seems like such a waste and afterward I feel guilty for not doing something more productive with my time. Like hanging out with the kids.

Raegan just graduated from kindergarten and she already likes boys! Whose kid is this anyway?! She is basically a mini-me but far smarter. Seriously, who teaches a 6 year old how to be so manipulative? Last night we were having dinner on the deck and she wanted to sit in Brody's spot and he wasn't having anything to do with it. She was trying every technique from I'll give you my dessert to you can have a sleep over. I ran inside (okay walked) to get more milk and when I got back out there she was in his spot! I asked Brody how Raegan got him out of his chair and he said, "She said please." I am proud of her for figuring that out but I believe it says a lot about Brody's character at the young age of four.

Speaking of his character, we were coming in from the garage a few weeks ago and Gabe noticed I had a pop in my hand. He said, "Mom, you are my best friend. Can I have a drink of your pop?" Of course I had to say yes to that--who could resist! Brody was right in front and heard the whole thing. I asked him if he'd like a drink of pop and who was his best friend. He said, "I'm sorry it's not you mommy." I was surprised seeing as I had the pop in my hand. Then he looked at me and said, "God is my best friend." AHHHHH. And yes, he got 2 drinks!

Enough for now--back to writing curriculum for a Club Med training I am headed to on Sunday!

Finally Updating

Well it is about time seeing as I do this twice a year. However, I figure I should update since the two people following might want to see that I do care about the birth of our fourth baby enough to add them to our family blog:) YES. We are due in late November and are very excited to add this precious babe to the Pluth contingency. I have been pretty sick, yet again. The past few days have been much better, but I must say in the evenings I wasn't feeling well AT all but no one likes a whiner so I sicked it up. No use in complaining (except at home to Bradly:)). Anyway, to the two of you who read this stuff--here's to you!

Well I am amidst writing my second book titled Webinars with WOW Factor! I am totally excited and have set a release date for March of 2009. I have hired a company to do the marketing to book buyers for this book and we are doing presales which is exciting. The scary part is getting the book finished so that it can be edited and then printed! All of this with us moving is proving to be quite the task. I am a bit overwhelmed but I know it will all come together. Here is what will be on the back cover of the book (thanks to the help of Liz!)





Death by webinar is rapidly replacing death by PowerPoint! Make your webinars effective and engaging!
A webinar is a different animal—requiring different skills and a different energy—where your weaknesses and lack of preparation leaves you completely exposed. Don’t get caught with your training pants down!
Budget cuts and a business focus on everything “green” makes human resource training via webinars a really attractive option—IF you can do it effectively. Here is the resource you NEED for designing and delivering training that justifies your investment and gets the job done WELL.

In this book, you will discover:
• What are the top 10 sins of webinars? How can I avoid them?
• Can I connect with learners online? How?
• What are best practices for webinar design, execution and follow-up?
• What tips can I use to energize my audience?
• How can I make a powerful impact with my slide design?
• How do I use the basic webinar software tools to best advantage?
• What activities can I use to ensure participant involvement?
• What techniques can I implement to make the webinar enjoyable for both host and participant?
• How do I increase retention of the training material?

Implementing these techniques and activities are guaranteed to better prepare you to involve your participants, make your training memorable, and ensure participant action planning.

Pluth Halloween

It has been 4 1/2 months sincy my last update and am almost feeling to guilty to update now~man. Anyway, getting over that I have decided to update you all on our Fall Festivities! So, here we are on a Hay Ride at the Chanhassen Rec Center. Each year Brad and I have taken the kids there for their Fall Halloween Party. They love it. This year was especially interesting as we have three kids 5 and under and trying to keep track of them all dressed up was a bit of a challenge. Here I am with Brody (2 1/2). He went as a Bee and I am a kitty:)

Here is Brad with Raegan(5) who went as Scooby Doo and Gabe (18m) as our little Monkey. Boy was he ever. Not once but twice during the evening he managed to get away from us and hide in the crowd. The first time we were in the gymnasium for the entertainment and he was running around and climbing up the risers. The next thing I know I can't locate the runner. I scan the audience for what seemed like an eternity to find the rascal running around but there was nothing! Eventually I located him sitting on the top bleacher next to another kid just sitting there eating his sucker. When has Gabe ever sat still for 5 minutes! SURE he had to pick then.

The fun continued on Halloween when Uncle Rob, Aunt Rosie and "Wild Thing" Will came over for Trick or Treating in the neighborhood. Aunt Cassie and Captain Roberto (as Raegan called Uncle John--I think he dressed up for story time at a sleepover they had at their house one time--came to take the kids around to a few houses too! It was really great to be surrounded by family and enjoy the evening together. I had to leave for Korea the next day so I was busy packing but it was a great night--our neighbors gave the kids a TON of candy because they only get 5 kids. They made out like bandits with the candy.

Cute Sayings

Of course kids say just about anything! So here are acouple of the latest cute sayings from the Pluth household:

Becky: Raegan if you spend the night at Gramma's with your cousins you won't see me before I leave on my trip.
Raegan: That's okay mom. I know you'll miss me but my cousins haven't seen me in a really long time and they miss me more.

Jody: Raegan, be careful not to slip on your way back home.
Raegan: It's okay Jody, God is watching over me.

Raegan: It is just so hard to be a good listener.