Shoe Shine

A memory I have as a kid was a chore I had. It was my job to polish my dad and brother’s Sabbath shoes. I remember taking great pride in this job. I don’t know why I liked such a dirty job but I think it was mostly because I got to visibly see the difference of before and after. I would sit on the rug next to our warm wood stove and take the old rag first to wipe of either the mud or salt depending on the season. It always seemed my brother had the most mud on his(probably because he would run out side right after church) I would then take the polish and shine them till they sparkled.
Then the best part was when I proudly presented the shoes to my brother. He would give me a squeeze and say “Thanks Katie they look great!”
A simple childhood memory reminds me, always take pride in even the simplest tasks and polish it till it shines!

Peruvian prank or hola from amios!?!

Hello Hello....static.. I hear some more shuffling and I repeat more Hello's. I am about ready to hang up, but decided to hang on just another minute to see if the connection will work out. I hear "Katie Ford!" and familiar voices greets me over the phone. Yes can it be half way around the world I hear the laughter of two friends!
Ah two friends have decided to call to see what I am up to!! They tell me about their exciting adventures in the jungle and about the wonderful pineapples and mangoes they are enjoying with out me. Yep Andrew still runs however he finds that he must do it in the morning because of it being so hot. And apparently Ever thought my pizza was pretty good cause 5 months later I still hear about it. I ask about the Spanish/English lessons well I guess its a learning process. I can't wait till there will be heavenly language and no static. However there is one language that I clearly understand is laughter its contagious and just simply good. I figured out the mystery animal! ah so much to say in so little of time, we all want to ask a million questions from each other. I wish I was there even if it was just a day.
lol I am sure you are laughing as you read this Andrew and Ever, but I have to say that was about one of the most fun phone call I've ever received! :D

Just a few thoughts

sometimes when we go to church and they ask for money, we may think "oh their just trying to get my money!" but when we go to the store and take a look at the clearance rack...we never think "they are trying to take our money. oh course they are just trying to give me a good deal!"

The earthly things we buy and stock up on, well they simply fade away get lost, forgotten, broken, stained. these things never make me happy at night, I never lay in bed at night thinking, "I'm so glad I have this!"
But the money I give away, the things I give away, I always remember! I remember what, when and who I gave it to.

It is better to store up treasure in heaven then here on a rotting world.

What’s going on at the Ford’s house!?!

Arriving home from camp this summer was an adventure in its self. This story actually starts before I was even born. My parents bought an older farm house, with the intentions of fixing it up. However this fixing up process has been going on for over 20 years!
When I got home my parents excitedly planned their newest remolding project. Dig out the basement, add a PORCH! And add 12 FEET to the house!! Little did I know at this was really going to go into action and little did I know how many people would be suddenly involved in this project! And still I have yet to know what the extra 12 feet are for.

6:00 A.M.! (now don’t get me wrong I am a typical morning person, but I was enjoying having the luxury of sleeping in just a bit later than what I would wake up to at camp.) I am woken up to a very annoying beep Beep BEEP!!(and this didn’t have a snooze button). The construction men had come to dig a hole in my back yard with a backhoe and dump truck. Yes I said “a hole.” With the construction vehicles cluttering my lawn, tearing up the grass and boxing me in; I decided I’ll take my school books and escape to school.
When I placidly arriving home and thoughts on nurse/client care, I take a lark in the back yard with my dog; to almost fall into hole going to china. I skid to a stop at the very edge I peer over into the hole I see my dad and Teddy(who is helping us with this project) working laboriously away, “are you searching for treasure I ask?” they just laugh at me.

The next day after coming home from school I find that the hole has grown to the in the front yard and around the side of the house. I start to wonder if this going to be a castle with a mote around it. I hadn’t thought my dad was that serious about waging a war with every young man who comes to seek my attention.
However, I believe my dad saw that the dog may be more affective in chasing off the gallant knights than searching for a sea monster to put in the mote. And so the hole was soon filled in with brick, forms and cement, and the house had made progress.

Speaking of the dog, who is very confused at this commotion feels it is his job to saw off people’s lower legs to let them know, this is his house and not to mess with it. fortunately for most of the legs that were sliced into, are protected with work boots and sturdy jeans.

However the next predicament started with the windows. Poor Teddy has spent hours trying to level and square our windows, but that is nearly impossible with an old slanted farm house. The first set of windows he put in was of different sizes, so that it looks extremely unlevel. Teddy is a perfections and could not stand this so he finally convinced my dad(who is not a perfectionist) to fix the problem. But then my mom decided to take a look and added “why not just take one out and make this one bigger.” Ok so out come both windows. Now these two windows face the road and they are also the two windows that are in our dining area. If you know my mom she is an amazing cook and had lunch ready for the guys. Now remember BOTH windows are out and with PLENTY of view of the road. Pretty soon we see our (nosy) neighbor whom has been getting plenty of excitement watching our remolding project go up, come driving by. He cranes his neck out of his car window as he grins waves vigorously to us through our wide open dining area.
After lunch my dad decides the fastest way to fix the window’s framing is to use the chain saw! To mom and I this is no big deal…chain saw ideas is just something that dad does. However my friend Elizabeth who is also stay at my house had never met someone who CHAIN Saws through their house!! Wood chips fly every where as she stares wide eyed and yells to me to Come quick and bring your camera!!

So this is the state of the Ford’s house, the remolding and construction continues on and I wonder if this will be the last year our house is an ongoing project….

Laugh a little

The original stress reliever ....Laughter!

He will yet fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with shouts of joy.
Job 8:21

Playing the "I" game

Flipping through some books on our shelves I came across one from the 60's a psychology book on how to make friends and influence people....hmm I thought I wounder how interesting this could be, just to give it a kick, I skipped around in it and read a bit.
The book talked about how to be a good conversationalist. What is a good conversationalist? To sum it up, its basically being a good listener.
Well I thought to my-self I know people's favorite person is always "me, my self and I" so...the next day I tried an experiment...

I sat down to eat lunch with one of my new class mates...I asked her a few questions about her self, general stuff...where she was from, what she did for work, where she went to school before...need I say more? No, the rest of the meal I hardly got two words in. And even by the end I was getting just a bit annoyed for not being able to talk about "Me" I chided my self when I realized what I was thinking-

I hadn't really cared about hearing that she worked at the pizza place, or about her long distance relationship. However I thought about this as I drove home from school. As a human race how far have we fallen into selfishness and pride, I see it a lot in my school, I hear conversations I do not even want to hear or imagine. Conversations are filled with mindless chatter and degrading to the human intelligence (at least to mine). How often do people take a genuine interest in someone else life, of others' thoughts and opinions? I had to ask myself How did Jesus talk in His conversations and how did he listen to people as they talked? taking a look at myself I realized, I have fallen short of a good Christian conversationalist. Lord please let it not be "I" but "You" and "Others!"

Horsein Around

what adventures you can have when you work at the horse barn...so here are just a few of them... :) hope you enjoy this horse staff, ;-)

The first thing that always makes me wounder is why on earth you put children with animals that have the mind capacity of a 6 year old and are about 800-1000 pounds. why? I ask my-self, but we do.

"can I ride pixie," "I want to ride Pixie," "no I asked first"..."I WANT Queenie," "I am going to ride Yankee,please Please!!!" "I am not going to ride Red," "I want to ride Abby." All rings in my ears I wish I could climb the flag pole to escape the crowd that clamors around me squeezing in tighter, tighter, they pull on my sleeves. gasping for air,I call out roll call. then bracing my-self I desperately try to keep the kids charge up to the horse barn, over the fence cantering into the stalls.

You know you've worked to long at the horse barn when you start calling the riders the horse's names and the horse the rider's name.

You adjust stirrups for the billionth time and give the rider on Pixie a crash course in 5 seconds on how to steer the horse. While Red wanders out of his stall and his rider is yelling to me, "my horse is backing up!! what do I DO!!" while at the same time Gent and Kiwi are having a squabble over personal space issues.

The real adventures start when your on the trail and the horse trot through the mud...I here shouts of WHOA WHOA Queenie! I grit my teeth as I see her rider pull the reins up past his chin, as he clings to the the saddle horn with a white knuckles.
Then there are the adventures with...
Gent and Yankee, they hungrily eye the leafy branches that grace our trails. They wait wait...then yank their heads around at the right moments and shred the innocent trees of their leaves. If Yankee happens to see the fern bed that is rich with vitamins and fiber he dives in into the mist of them and up roots as many as he can before the drag rider can call to his rider to "tighten up the reins" tearing Yankee's tongue away from the leafy deliciousness.

Pixie what an Innocent name you would think... A calm spirit, a dusky brown color with a long tail and mane she seems so relaxed...but ah don't be fooled the adventure campers will warn you that she for sure was trying to kill them by barrelling straight through the brush and nearly knocked them off by going so close to the trees.

Queenie and Yankee made good friends with two crafty girls this summer and begged me every day if they could visit the craft house.
There is Thunder hooves Abby who has tried to kiss Alex however he strictly told her that was unacceptable!
...oh and don't ride George bare-back, at least not un-till he gets a little more meat on his bones, hmm...need I say more?

yet there is one more lark I must add(since Alex did bring it up in one of our conversations)
once upon a time there was lots of water and lots of dirt in our stable area, this was so thick, that when trekking across it you had to yank one foot out at a time...and on some occasion by the time you reached your destination you may find to your dismay, you left your boot about ten steps back. the only comforting thought as the mud squeezed between your toes, as you trekked back for the boot, was that the soil was well fertilized and for sure you was grow tall and strong. However thanks to my parents for make it possible for us to have gravel for this area, we no longer have to worry about growing too tall.

there is quiet a few more adventures I am sure our four legged friends could tell if they could blog...do ask them however to tell a story to you... :)

"I don't want to, Katie!" I had heard for the about the hundredth time, Well I don't want to hear you say that one more time, I growled to my self! and I am changing my name, its no longer Katie!!
One of my adventure campers had been wining pretty much from the day that she had arrived. And was trying my patience to the core. Each morning I prayed God please give me wisdom and patience for this camper. Each day I prodded her along, scolded her, coaxed her, sympathized with her and disciplined her.As I worked with her I began to think about how God does the same to us.
we wine we say we can't, we say God am not good I DONT want to!
But God says no you can't, but I can give you the power to. how much patience He has for us, when we complain...how He never tires of us being children is beyond me.Thank you Lord for being patience with this child. :)

Jungle Thorns

As I was walking on a jungle trail, and I had been observing everything around me; fascinated by all the new and exciting things to look at. I was hoping to maybe catch a glimpse of some jungle birds or maybe even a monkey if possible. However I was failing to watch where I walked. Across my path lay a jungle vine which is guarded by very sharp and plentiful needles, and anything that comes in contact with it can have a very painful experience. It grabbed my ankles and before I could escape it’s clutches, it left a ragged and bleeding wound there. Yelping in pain, and sputtering at the at the cursed plant I hobbled down the rest of the trail.
So many times in life we get distracted by things around us, we watch the more exciting views, rather than our own paths. When we are distracted from the path that God has set before us, Satan can cleverly set his snares in our path way that can leave us wounded and bleeding.

A Task Before Me...

PR ok, I thought I can do that. Can't be that hard right? programming probably involves papers, pictures and coming up with ideas, and whatever ease they throw at me. One small detail I forgot to consider, IT'S IN SPANISH!
Jenni excitedly chats with me, telling me how excited she is to have me help her. still clueless that I had spent $600 on a plane ticket to come do, I smile at Jenni's commit.
"Come over to my house when you're finished eating breakfast." she tells me. "Ok" I reply, blissfully launching into my food.
I march over to her house to receive my work, a notebook, a hole puncher and a stack of receipts a foot high! little did I know how many hours I would be spending hunting, punching, filing, and cross checking with the computer's list! I was to receive a head ache to every fifteen receipts. And at one point I fell asleep filing them, to have Ever telling me "Wake Up, you still have more to do!"
65% of the receipts would be missing, meaning I would have to hunt for about ten minutes to make sure it didn't get shuffled and then if I couldn't still find I would mark the number in color in the computer and later go back to fill in the receipt by hand. then there would be random receipts that just appeared to have no home. what was I to do with them? Yes I came all the way to Peru to file receipts written in Spanish. How insane could I be?


I stared at Francis who sat across the table from me. dirt and grim staining his clothes and sweat dripping off him. within three hours of arriving in Pucallpa, by air, he was handed a machete that was to be his companion for the next three weeks. He would be spending hours in the hot sun attacking weedy invaders on the pineapple the lemon, and the yucca field. I wondered, God you sent us here to file receipts and banish weeds? why not something exciting like construct a building or help some one with a health issue. I wanted to touch a life in some small way.
But as I question God he reminds me patiently that He is trusting me with the small things and if I can achieve the small things, He will give me bigger things to tackle.
And so I wait for the next mission that God will set before me and I Pray it will not be receipts again but if it so, I know how to tackle it. And if you ask me if I would go back? I would go back on the soonest flight out.

The Peruvian Way

•Flying into Pucallpa, over grass huts and tin roofs, you wonder what on earth you got your-self into.

•Your juice is given to you in a bag, and you simply drink it by biting a corner of it and sucking on it.

•Everyone stares at you; especially if you’re a girl- the guys will whistle or cat call you if you’re not walking with a guy.

•You hug the girl with pink-eye anyways.

•You get kisses on the cheek.

•Chicken is actually pretty good as long as you don’t think about where it came from.

•I don’t suggest coming to Peru if you’re a germ phobia. A lot of times you just tell yourself it’s clean.

•Carpooling is defined as three in the front, four in the back, and five in the bed of the truck with the weed-whackers and a stove.

•Lightning is beautiful at night, and you fall asleep watching fireflies dance above your mosquito net.

•Taking a bucket shower takes talent…especially if you have long hair.

•Be prepared to bring your own TP.

•French fries are better than McDonalds.

•Your lawn mower is your arm and a metal thing called a machete: warning first time use of a machete may result in blisters.

•A mop is your own invention.

•A battle with ants is an all out war.

•Washing machines are very portable, they are attached to your arms and they function with a bar of soap.

•Cold Papaya is like a piece of heaven.

•Peruvians have an awesome sense of humor.

•Don’t wear shorts when you’re macheting a pineapple field.

•75, is cold and a light jacket is required; warning though your first day you may feel like you’re having a heat stroke.

•Guess what’s for breakfast, lunch, and supper!?! Yep that’s right, rice and beans!

•Playing charades gets really old, but you do get really good at it.

•Being on time, who ever heard of that?

•Someone’s house is smaller than your bathroom, and only the upper middle class have cement floors.

•Kids are so easy to make friends with.

•Working for God is amazing!

"Hola" from Peru!

Hey every one, I am in Peru, and I just thought I would share some pictures since they are worth a thousand words. I hope you enjoy them.






oh yeah they call this a public road!


trying out Jenni's new motorcycle


yes that is a house, and yes real people live there.






after a long day in the pinapple field. Bascially the first thing we got to do when we got here was to machete a 100x100 meter field!


my new hero's...these guys work from sun up till sundown in the boiling Peru sun!


my new casa


from a birds eye view

Caving and My "Manly Head Wound"

I was was caving yesterday, and we were climbing up a section, and (since I am a kinda short, and the rock that I was trying to climb up was kinda tall) My plan of action was to give a mighty leap and attempt to get my body half way up onto the self of rock. however that plan came abruptly to a halt, for I found out really quick that the human skull does not move boulders. I had whacked my head on a rock above me.
After letting out a pretty loud groan according to what the others said, I made it up to where the others were had Morgan take a look at it. She's like "ah your bleeding all over the place." anyways I am ok, just so you know had a major head ache and now have a sore head but its all good. lol. Just thought I would share my adventurous caving experience.

stick figures

Today as I sat in church, I had invited some of the younger girls who are all sisters to sit with me. Since there are five of them in a the family I thought I would help the mom out so she wasn't tying to keep all five quiet at one time. Plus my parents are out of state because of their business, so I've been getting pretty tired of sitting by my self, in the long empty pew. Ashley smiled up at me as she scooted in next me, and her two sisters Anna and Angel slyly peeked over at me. They sat perfectly for most the service and when the preacher started his sermon I decied to see if I could find some pens in my purse, to let them draw. My mom use to let me do this as I would fidget next to her during those long sermons. They caught on as soon as I pulled the pens out of my purse and bent there heads over there work. I smiled to my self as I thought about all the sermons kids have spent with a pen a paper. I watched as Ashley drew a picture of God on a cloud, she then drew her-self with her entire family, Her aunt and uncle and her cousin, and she added me to the picture as well. lol. Although the people were just stick figures and God didn't have any hair. Her picture was a thousand words. She knew the most important keys to life and she was only a child.
1. God, must be present and be the most important thing in life.
2. Family is a special thing
3. Love is the key to happiness. (each figure had a smile and reached out their hands to each other)
I'll probably forget the sermon on "working together as church" by next week, but I doubt I'll forget simplicity of the that picture and the lesson in it for a long time.

19 birthday memories

19 – Got “I love you’s” from the people that I care about, and never been kissed, n totally ok with that.
18 – 18 roses and a Clear Word Bible
17 – Got a laptop/ was kinda Christmas present as well
16 - Scared my mom half to death trying out my permit!!
15 – mom took me on a shopping trip to the mall.
14 – went skiing with my dad
13 - my parents got me contacts
12 – Got balloons from my sister (I think that was the first time I ever got balloons for my birthday)
11 – I got my first curling iron and blow dryer…and I pondered what I was going to do with them.
10 – I got my first camera…back when they use to take pictures with film.
9 - I got some silly putty, and I wondered why they didn’t let me have this really cool stuff before.
8 – I don’t really remember other then my mom asking me what kind of ice cream I wanted…”cotton candy” and I still had to do school on my birthday.
7 – mom letting me grow out my hair (my mom always cut my hair short and I hated it cause my sister had long beautiful hair and I so wanted mine to be just like that.)
6 – picking out my own ice cream cake from the store, it was so cool!
5 – School books yeah real exciting, and Oatmeal (my favorite teddy bear till I got to old for him)
4 – a kitty cat cake! Just like the pictures In my mom’s cook book.
3 – my very own pillow case that was 101 Dalmatian dogs on it(funny thing is I never even watched when I was I was a kid)
2- don’t really remember but- the picture shows me getting a toy tractor from my brother.
1- lost in files somewhere.

randomly cool pictures

Go Green...save the planet...:P


Interesting...and no I didn't use photoshop...


Wood gets you warm 3 times, when you chop it, when you burn it, and when you take the ashes back out...


"No!!not the camera"...


who says you can't be friends with a skeleton?...


I am fascinated every time I watch them...


As the dear that thirst for water...my soul thirst for You oh God...


The awesome view out my window


Boys will be boys...He really wanted to drive it...


The snow drift in my driveway...


This guy got a little lost...


God, amazing, doesn't even come close!!

Thank you God for giving me eyes to see...

Haunted by Hormones

I’ve been studying about the endocrine system for about the past two weeks and I’ve been lost in trying to understanding that the adenohypophyis is the same thing as anterior pituitary, and that GH hormone is really stimulated by GHRH. So this is a warning to you, continue to read at your own risk, you to may be Haunted by hormones as well after reading this.
I thought as I am soon to turn 19, I might be able to leave behind all those crazy teenage hormones, and never have to deal with them again. But to my great disappointment my A&P teacher stated nope, hormones play a role in just about every system of the body...and if your going to be a nurse they are going to be coming back and haunting you even more…”what!!” "No!! I don’t want anything more to do with Hormone," I cried, but alas I am forever to be haunted by Hormones.

So how what exactly are Hormones (H)?
Aren’t they those mystical ion that floats around the body? And only start to cause us grief in our teen years? …..they make us grow extremely fast, make us break out in those horrible red dots the day before we go out on our first date…ah date…yes Hormones that make us realize that the opposite sex…is so fascinating, but then make us break out in a sweat when we even think about talking to them. Oh and don’t forget those one that make us have those mood swings…H are sure to blame, right!

My text book simply states it
Hormone: a chemical messenger released into the blood system, to bind with cells and carry out metabolic activity. (huh? Ok that’s it I really don’t understand…)



Actually getting into the cell is more completed then you think…
1)the H comes over to the cell that has a specific protein receptor for it. 2) the receptor changes shape and binds to a G protein which displaces a high energy compound(GTP) Hint G protein acts like a light switch with on/off. Ok so still following? Don’t worry I got lost on the first step. 4) so now this activated G protein binds with the effecter enzyme adenylate cyclase. 5) activated now here comes cAMP (man, wish I was at camp) a 2nd- massagers, from ATP. 6) from there the cAMP actives Protien Kinases well the that just sends off all kinds of chemical reactions, and enzymes go to work.

How come the H doesn’t get lost? I have no Idea. Oh but wait that’s only one way for those H to work theirs still two other ways….

You still have the Steroids (that bind easily with the proteins) but the complex ones have to enter the nucleus, copy the DNA and make mRNA production

Wait stop how does this all stay under control? Hormones can’t just float around in the body jumping into cells when ever they feel like it!

The pituitary Gland right? Every one calls it the master gland.
“Nope.” “What?”...the hypothalamus, is the master of the master.

Yep, and I Haven’t even mentioned the negative feed back system, That goes something like this…
Something internal or external triggers the H levels to rise  Target tissue release more H. they flow through blood and report back and shut off either the Hypothalamus or the Pituitary gland, depending on the H.

Should I continue to tell you about the 21 hormones I have to memorize and their glands stimulation inhibit...what? Did you say your cerebral hemispheres can’t take any more? Oh come on this is only one page compared to 20 pages of my notes.
Ok but are you sure you don’t want to now about…
(Anterior pituitary) GH, TSH, ACTH, GSH & LH, PRL, MSH,
(Posterior pituitary) Oxcyotcin, and ADH
(Thyroid gland) T3 &T4 , calcitonin
(Parathyroid glands) PTH: increases Calcium in the blood
(Adrenal cortex) aldosterone, cortisol, androgens,
(Adrenal medulla) E & NE,
(Pancreas) glucagon and insulin
(Ovaries and Testes) Estrogen, progesterone, testosterone
(Pineal) Melatonin
(Thymus) thymosin




Cortisol, is reminding me I have a test tomorrow and that I must cram every bit of information into my brain so that tomorrow it doesn’t have to go into Fight or flight mode when the piece of paper is handed to me. While I am telling my estrogen to chill before I say something stupid to the good-looking guy that sits behind me in class, and my pancreas just sent out some insulin to take care of the glucose (sugar/food) I just ate, probably going to put it into lipid(fat) cause I ate to much of it. And Melatonin is telling me to go to sleep, ‘cause the lack of natural light is gone. But if I sleep, these hormones still haunt me, and I have dreams about the TRH releasing TSH which releases T3 & T4, which increase metabolic rate. And I am still trying to figure out how that leads to cAMP.