How many animals DID Noah take on the Ark?????

I am in West Virginia at this moment. We are living on a mountain. Not at the top, but once you are on it, you are on it. I got up this morning with Hubby and after he left for work I sat down at my computer as I usually do because it is quiet and it's a little me time. I must confess the first thing I do is not my Bible studying, so I am going to be working on that. God knows I have issues with that so that must be why He brought the rain today. I get on the computer and check my email and send some and then I check updates on Carepages. As I am checking Carepages a family member is having a hard time with faith amongst other very yucky stuff going on in life. I am reminded/convicted because I have been wanting to do a study on faith and have not done it yet. I say that I am going to and then I don't. Had I worked on it, I might have had some encouraging words. As it was, I did not obey, and God let me know. Now I must get started on what He wants me to do. I am finishing up on my not so important stuff that shouldn't come first and I look out my little window by the chair. It is indescribable! The color was like none I had seen before. It was almost like orange and green at the same time. I am from Nebraska and if you have ever seen the sky change color there before a tornado comes, this was the same kind of feeling. Not the same color but odd just the same. I can see the rain coming down from the clouds so heavy in spots that it looks like those little rain clouds on cartoons that follow people around. I knew it was raining everywhere, but in two spots it was just more intense. Like God just cut the bottom out of those two clouds and let it pour. Two people must have been having really bad days. I started thinking about how if I were in the time of The Flood, is this what it would look like? Would people be climbing the mountain to get to the top? Would I be able to see the water coming up the mountain as it rose higher and higher? So many questions started going through my head. Then I remember reading somewhere (I can't remember where) that there were no mountains before the flood and that during The Flood is when the mountains came to be. I looked up the word mountain on an online Bible. The first appearance of the word in the NIV version is in Genesis 7. So of course I look up and read Genesis 7. Two things I learned today are that there were mountains of some kind before the flood because Genesis 7:20 says that the mountains were covered as the flood waters rose. The other thing I learned was that I don't know near as much as I thought I did about the animals on the Ark. I always thought they came in by twosy, twosy. That's what I was always told in Sunday School. I guess that is easier for young kids to understand. Or easier for us to explain. I know from experience that simple is the way to go with kids. Sometimes when you answer one question with just a little too much info, it gives kids just enough info to think of something else. Clean and unclean could turn into a very long discussion. My 8 year old Prince asked me if Noah took fish on the Ark and where he kept them. I had never before thought about that. I didn't know for sure so I said we would have to look it up just like anything else we don't understand. Short answer: no fish, just land animals and bird type animals. So now I am looking over the same basic verses I had to read to find out about the fish, and that taught be that there were more than two of some kinds, and learn yet even more. Actually, it just brought up more questions. Genesis 7:2-3 (KJV)Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.

Genesis 7:2-3 (NIV)Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.

I listed both the KJV and the NIV because those are the two that I used and was stumped. Here is the problem. I, much like my son, love math and are very fact orientated. Here is the question: How many of each animal did Noah take on the Ark? It's the odd numbers that mess me up. I like things even. God is a little more creative. The clean animals and birds: 7 of every kind (a male and its mate). Are we talking about 7 couples or seven animals so there is a male or female with out a mate of that kind? Let's say it was a dog (which I am pretty sure is unclean, but since I can't think of or find an example of a clean I'll just use this to clarify). The dog would be the kind of animal, if we take seven of it then we have 3 males, 3 females, and 1 that would be one or the other. Then we would have an odd number of that kind of animal. Or are we taking 7 male "dogs" and 7 female "dogs"? Then we would have 14 of each kind of animal. I am not saying the Bible is wrong by any stretch of the imagination. I believe it to be true in it's entirety. I am just mathematically confused here. This is a lot different than "The Lord...told Noah...there's gonna be a floody, floody". I am sure that God knew then and knows now what He is doing and had a reason for it. Either way could work when God sets the plan. I just wanna know which way it was. As of this moment I still don't know. If I figure it out, I will be sure to post what I learn. Until then, if anyone can enlighten me, I would appreciate the information and direction.

God Bless

Grilz, Chills, and stuff

Hello all again. I have found a little time to spend on my blog. I thought I would do just that out of bordom more than anything really. I am trying to do less and still do more and it seems like I am only doing more and none of the less. I am finally caught up on all my email checking and sending, and have got the trailer in order. So much has been going on lately that it has been hard to find time to blog. I guess that is how my diary always starts too...."So much has been going on that I haven't had time to write....." and then I sit down and try to think of what has been going on and write for like 5 pages. Since I have an awful memory and can't seem to remember to do it, or remember what happened 3 months ago, I am not a very good journaler. I do make an effort, sometimes. Here are a few random thoughts that have popped into my head recently in no specific order.

Grilz-- If you don't know (and I didn't until about 3 months ago) grilz are fake teeth. They can be gold or have diamonds or some other oddity on them. They are made to fit over your real God given teeth. People who where these grilz don't always have bad teeth. In fact what made me ponder the thought was a young man that my husband works with. He has beautiful white teeth and a wonderful smile. I didn't notice at first because I was distracted by the grilz he was wearing. You apparently can't eat with the grilz in so he took his out and that is when I noticed he had real teeth. Here is what I just don't get....Why would you were them? If you have teeth of your own, no matter how good or not so good they are, you still have teeth. People know they are not real because at some point you are going to take them out to eat, or you are going to change them. I guess people usually do things similar to this because they want to be like someone famous, or someone they look up to, or they want to be in a "class" they don't normally fit into (buying "fake" Armani suits). I don't know about everyone else but most of the people I know of that have the "real" gold teeth, or diamonds on their teeth, or what ever the grilz are supposed to look like, are not the most upstanding citizens. I would go so far as to say that more than a few gold teeth wearers have lost a tooth in a fight or spent time in a jail of some sort. I just don't understand what kind of person they are trying to be with the grilz. Here is the short of it.....I just don't get grilz! At all! I don't understand what is so cool about them. I don't understand why people want to wear them. I just don't get it on so many levels. I think I put in my "list of things that you will never see me doing"- wearing grilz.
We have made a move since I last posted. We were in hot and humid Louisiana. We are currently in foggy Pennsylvania. We changed time zones and that takes some adjusting. What is really strange is that my husband goes in to work later here so we don't have to get up so early, but we are really getting up at the same time that we would before with the time change. Somehow I still feel like I am getting more sleep. We are right on the PA/WV border on the PA side. Hubby is working in WV. We are on the side of a mountain. It is very foggy and cool in the mornings. In Louisiana it was hot and humid, all day, every day. The mountains are beautiful if you can keep from feeling nautious while riding in the car. The girls are still trying to adjust. It is so foggy in the morning that you can hardly see off your mountain. Little by little the fog clears and the next mountains appear. It's almost like God wants it to be a surprise everyday. Everyday I wonder how I can be more amazed at the creation He made, and everyday I amazed at something different.
Everyday is a new challenge, as life always is. This morning I decided to come outside and enjoy some of the weather before it starts getting too cold. Princess woke up early with a bad dream and had an "accident". We cleaned up and cuddled and now we are sitting outside enjoying the view. Prince woke up and now we are all going to spend a little time outside. We may even go for a little walk. Hopefully I will get the camera from my husband and have some pictures tomorrow. Time to spend some beautiful time with my wonderful children. Have a blessed day.