11/30/10

Last look at fall.....
With the storms heading our way tonight there will not be any leaves left on the trees.

Random thoughts today.....

Wesley saw a rainbow in the sky this morning when he was walking to class. He ran back in to my room to get Mikayla and me so we could see. I have never seen a rainbow in the morning... nor when it hadn't rained. It was a beautiful promise to start the day.

We have had Molly exactly one week. It is hard to believe.

Mikayla is girlfriend with a mission when it comes to Molly. She keeps her fed and cleans up her messes.

Wesley is enjoying squirrel hunting in our yard with a bee-bee gun. He is our entertainment.

Today was around 70 degrees. Tomorrow.... going downhill the entire day to be in the 40's by tomorrow afternoon. Welcome to NC.

Our Christmas tree is still UP.

Our presents are back under the tree.

I enjoyed the comments from last night. Gretchen - I laughed out loud. Sandy - I just got tickled as I envisioned you holding your tree the whole time he was gone.... Wendy - yes, O Christmas Tree has new meaning now. :)

I dropped my cell phone today and had a panic moment. Didn't want my newfangled texting machine to be hurt. It was fine.

I have to go do homework. Bleh. :)

11/29/10

This last set of leaves with the green and red is getting us ready for Christmas!

Speaking of Christmas.... wanna hear what happened to me?

Last night Steve and I began to wrap presents.

Now, before you think we are "Johnny and Johnette on the Spot" this is not a normal occurrence for us. We usually wrap the gifts almost right before we give them to people. We have never seemed to have that part together because presents are all over the place and I am always worried I am going to miss someone.

This year I wanted to be more together and asked Steve if he would begin Friday night while I finished up Christmas cards. He wrapped a few but ran out of boxes.... and tape.

Fast forward to last night.

We had boxes.

We had tape.

We were working together for the common goal of wrapping presents and getting to see them sitting under our tree for basically the whole Christmas season!

As I was sitting by the tree wrapping a present while we watched the Carolina game, I was attacked by something.

Our Christmas tree fell on top of me.

Wanna read that again? Yep, it is true.

I am knocked over by our very own, just bought and decorated Christmas tree.

I was stunned there for a few minutes.

Wesley awoke to Steve yelling: "Holy Mackerel King Fish.... are you alright!?"

(I am laughing as I type this.... it should have made it to the America's Funniest Home Videos or something....)

As the tree goes down I am seeing ornaments fly past my head.

The angel on top begins to fly back and forth. Hark the Herald Angels sing just took on a new meaning.

Hallmark ornaments, sentimental ornaments, silly ornaments.... all go crashing to the floor... and into my back and hair.

I couldn't do anything for a minute or so. I was just so stunned. lol Steve was trying to see if I was alright. All I could do?

Laugh.

Why not? It was better than crying at the moment!

We finally got the tree back into its correct position thanks to the help of Wesley. I was really no help by this point.

I picked up the many ornaments that made it to the floor. There were three that had been "injured" and will need some super glue surgery. They were all Hallmark ornaments. You know how much those things cost.

Poor Tinkerbell broke her neck and was a bit "Katywompas"

Wesley's John Deere tractor from one of his years lay in pieces.

Our little Santa's head had broken off.

Remember all of those presents we had wrapped?

They were now wet. Wesley had to dry them off with a towel. I think they will be OK.

The last time Steve and I tried to wrap presents early our tree stand got a crack in it and soaked the presents under the tree. Many of those were almost ruined or had to be re-wrapped.

Hmmm..... maybe we should just not worry so much about wrapping presents and putting them under the tree. Handing people their gifts in a Walmart bag would relieve a lot of stress.

Have you had any Christmas "moments" you would like to share?

11/28/10

Taking more time through pictures to view the beauty God shows us daily.

Psalm 104:1
Bless the Lord, O my soul, O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honor and majesty.

Psalm 104:2
Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain.

Psalm 104:19
He appointed the moon for season; the sun knoweth his going down.

Psalm 104:24
O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.

11/27/10

More pics for you to enjoy:

Enjoy this song by Josh Groban. It is actually on his Christmas CD but so fitting for every day of the year!

11/26/10

More beautiful fall leaves. They will not be around much longer....

Some Thanksgiving humor I "stole" from Kevin's blog. :)

11/25/10

Life should be a journey of thankfulness.

A time to view the world from a different angle.

To praise the Lord for the small beauties in life.

Showing thankfulness for how He handles all of the smallest details.

And how He splashes us with color when we least expect it.

Psalm 57:1-11

My heart, O God, is steadfast,
my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and make music.
Awake, my soul!
Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.

I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory be over all the earth.

Happy Thanksgiving!

11/24/10

Today I am thankful for the little creatures God allows us to love every day. On this day, especially, I am thankful for our new little one:

Meet Molly :)

Steve found her through his sister who knew someone who had puppies. She is a Golden Retriever/Collie mix. She is precious.

The kids were so excited to meet her. We have been waiting a long time for a puppy. We didn't want to get one before Boogie died because it wouldn't have been fair for her. We didn't want her last days to be overwhelming because of a puppy. We wanted her to know how much we loved her fully.
The kids have waited patiently.

Steve and I picked her up last night (the 23rd) while the kids stayed with my parents. We were afraid we would walk away with all of them if the kids went. ha!

We had many names we loved, but Molly is the one we all agreed on and it fit.

Look at those eyes!

Two happy kiddos

SHE LOVES HER MAMA. :) She crawled up there to be with me. I held her all the way home so we had us some bonding time.

She looks so small but I know she will grow fast. That is why I wanted to capture her now.

Molly loves her Daddy, too. :)

Our good friends found us this "cage" to keep her in for now. We also found her one of the kids old stuffed animals for her to lay with in the pen.

Welcome, little Molly.

We are so thankful to have you.

You will be extremely loved.

11/23/10

I love the sun shining through and on the leaves. I think that is my weakness to photograph in the fall.

This is salt and pepper that I photographed some time ago.
What do you notice first?

If you answered the peppercorn, that is what most people would say. We do not notice that all around it are pieces of rock salt.

That seems to be how we view our lives sometimes.

Sometimes we become so consumed with the "black spot" on our lives that we fail to look at the blessings all around it. The "black spot" may be our past, it may be a trial, it could be anything that can take our thankfulness away from the Lord.

Our Pastor reminded us of this on Sunday when he shared this verse:

Psalm 68:19
Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.

We need to count our blessings, one by one, and see what benefits the Lord has truly given us.... even with those "black spots" in our lives.

Remember the old hymn "Count Your Blessings"... it is such a good one. Enjoy reading the words as you remember those benefits the Lord supplies you every minute of every day.

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Refrain:
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings—wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

11/22/10

It is Thanksgiving Week.

In honor of that, I will take some time this week to reflect on why I am thankful.

It really should be every day - not just once a year.

I have done this with my students for years. I get them thinking of the everyday things for which they should be thankful. It is a reminder to me as well:

I got up out of a warm bed this morning.

My worst sleep is better than most.

I could hear my alarm.

I could get up out of the bed.

I used a bathroom inside our home to take a shower and get ready for the day.

The shower had HOT water.

I took a shower longer than 2 minutes.

I could see myself in the mirror.

I have a closet full of clothes that I was able to choose from and get myself dressed.

I had food in the pantry for breakfast.

I have all kinds of cooking utensils to make breakfast or just pour a bowl of cereal.

I was able to walk around my warm house.

I was able to get my children out of their warm beds.

My children are healthy and could get themselves going without me having to help them every step of the way.

I drove our van to school.

I have a job.

I had water to drink while at school.

I had a snack.

I have a computer with which to communicate with my parents or check on things needed for the classroom.

I have the ability to teach/write/listen/help.

I can walk up and down stairs.

I had lunch.

I could drive myself home.

I am back in my warm house.

I will eat supper tonight.

I may have a snack.

I will grade papers on a comfy couch.

We will watch TV while those papers are being graded.

I will go back to that warm bed.

Tomorrow, Lord willing, I will do it again.

We are so blessed that we many times forget to be thankful.

What is a "little" thing for which you are thankful?

11/21/10

Psalm 100:4-5
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

11/20/10

I love the splashes of color among the earth tones.

Thank you to all of those who commented on our loss of Boogie. We are doing well - just missing her. It is a comfort to know she isn't in pain anymore.

Have a happy Saturday everyone....

11/19/10

It has been a sad day around here.

Our sweet dog, Boogie, affectionately known as "Boogen", had to be put to sleep this morning.

Steve and I reminisced about her this morning. Allow me to do so here:

I'll be the first to say I am not a "dog person" but Boogie was definitely the exception. While I didn't love all over her as some would, I still loved her dearly nonetheless.

Steve found her around a year after we were married. She was a couple to three months old and he found her walking around where he used to work. Someone had thrown her out because she had the mange. He brought her home and we took her to the vet to get help. While getting rid of the mange, she developed Parvo from her immune system being compromised while at the vet... but lived through it. The doctor's told Steve if she lived through Parvo, which normally kills dogs, then she was a tough one for sure.

That doctor wasn't lying.

Boogie was always healthy, strong-willed and WILD when she was younger. She thought the whole world was her yard. We put up one of those invisible fences and she would tuck her chin and run through it never stopping. She could also uproot a corkscrew leash holder that was supposedly able to hold a German Shepherd.... we saw her running through the yard with the corkscrew still attached to her leash.

She used to always like to go find things and roll around in smelly stuff when Steve would let her out of the pen.

She loved life.

As she got older she became hard of hearing.
Her eyes became dimmer.
She got arthritis.
She got gray hair.
She got less wild and more settled.
She became more loved.

For the last year we have been able to have her out of the pen all of the time because she could be trusted now to stay at home. :)

We thoroughly enjoyed her last year with us. It has been so sweet to come home and look for "Boogen."

Last night, when we saw how much she had gone downhill in just a few short days, and how she was suffering, it was all we could take.

We had to go out at 2:30 this morning and help her back onto her pillow. Steve covered her with his coat to keep her warm.

Through tears flowing, I stroked her nose and told her I loved her.

As we all gathered around the back of the truck where Steve had placed her this morning to take her to the Vet, it was quite sad. We knew she was just plain old tired for fighting to live for so long. She was no longer the Boogie we once knew. We knew it was time.

We all went our separate ways with tears flowing. Steve said she went very peacefully. He buried her in the backyard and we will have to make her a marking stone.

It will be so sad driving up this afternoon and not seeing her waiting for us.

This was taken last Christmas

We love you, Boogen!

11/18/10

At least I was able to photograph some leaves on the trees before the storm. :)

... now they are all over the ground.

You know all of those leaves and limbs that were all over our yard after the storm? Well, yesterday Wesley and Mikayla came home from school and went outside to play for a few minutes. Pretty soon they came back in and said they wanted to clean up the limbs and rake up leaves for their Daddy.

Wesley wanted to ride the Kubota tractor badly, but we don't let him unless Steve is outside. Instead, I let him get the lawnmower and he used that to haul off the branches. Apparently, he started with string to haul them and when that broke he used a chain and a screwdriver to help the branches stay connected to the back of the mower. :)

Mikayla was out with the rake and using the wheelbarrow to haul smaller limbs. They both hauled all of their limbs and debris to the burn pile down at the barn that Steve has piled up for the "burn day" sometime in January.

They saw something that needed to be done and did it without being asked.

They worked until dark.

It made me thankful for their attitudes and servant's heart.... and they surprised and tickled their Daddy. :)

11/17/10

Yesterday we had the fun opportunity to start watching Mikayla's piano teacher's newborn son. Her Mom has been here since he was born and has been keeping him since lessons began 2 weeks ago, but she is now leaving for home.

When Wesley realized we would be taking care of him yesterday he had this conversation with me:

Wesley: "Mom, do you remember how to do all of that diaper changing stuff from when you had us?"

Me: "Yes... why?"

Wesley: "Good! I just didn't think I could do all of that!"

It surely was nice holding a little baby.

It surely was nice getting to leave and go home to my life now. lol


Our fall leaves have peaked this week. They have really turned out to be more beautiful than I originally thought.

However, last night changed all of that.

Anyone in my area hear the WINDS that blew through here last night?

We really don't have a lot of leaves left on the trees... they are in the yard.

We even have a lot of branches and other items in the yard.

My best friend's grill blew off their deck and took some of the deck pickets with it.

It wasn't a tornado but it surely sounded like something big out there! Thankful that the Lord took care of us through the storm!

Please make a comment about any stories from last night you would like to share.

Or just SHARE with me. :)I really am missing the comments.

11/16/10

I wanted to share a little excerpt from my Bible study I have still been working on from this past summer.... Breaking Free by Beth Moore. I am nearing the end of it and it makes me sad because this one has been so good. I may just go back through it again!!!

In thinking of what I wrote yesterday about walking in our own shoes, I was reminded of another "walk" and that is walking with the Lord. Here is what Beth wrote about in one of the days I just studied. It has been something I have thought on ever since:

Walking with God in the pursuit of daily obedience is the sure means of fulfilling each of His wonderful plans. Imagine in heaven God lovingly shows you His plan for your earthly life. You see footprints walking through each day.

On many of the days, two sets of footprints appear.

You inquire: "Father, are those my footprints every day, and is the second set of prints when You joined me?"

He answers, "No, My precious child. The consistent footprints are Mine. The second set of footprints are when you joined Me."

"Where were You going, Father?"

"To the destiny I planned for you, hoping you'd follow."

"But, Father, where are my footprints all those times?"

"Sometimes you went back to look at old resentments and habits. Sometimes, you departed from My path and chose your own instead. Other times, your footprints can even be seen on another person's path because you liked their plan better. At other times, you simply stopped because you would not let go of something you could not take with you."

"But even if I didn't walk with You every day, we ended up OK, didn't we?"

He holds you close and smiles, "Yes, child, we ended up OK. But, you see, OK was never what I had in mind for you."

"Father, what are those golden treasure boxes on certain days?"

"Blessings, My child, I had for you along the way. Those that are open are those you received. Those still closed were days you did not walk with Me."

I don't know about you, but that hit home. Makes me realize that God loves me so much and just wants me to follow the path He has laid out for me whether it is hard or not. When I leave His side I miss out on so many blessings He has in store for me.

11/15/10

Here are some wooden shoes that one of my students brought in last week while we were studying the Pilgrims being in Holland. His family is originally from there so he had the "real stuff!"

I decided to try them on to see how they felt. They looked so smooth on the outside!

I found out very quickly that they were hard, rough, and too small.

I tried to walk in them and found out just how hard it was to walk in wooden shoes! It wasn't comfortable at all.

The bottoms were still slick even though you can see they have been used a great deal.

As I had them on my feet I couldn't help but think of times I wished I was "walking in someone else's shoes."

Have you ever had those moments where you think someone else's life is such a piece of cake or they had everything going good and your life just wasn't what you had thought? Kind of like looking at the outside of these wooden shoes.... everything looks so smooth.

As I put my feet in those shoes.... shoes that I think the child's grandmother or great grandmother had worn... I was reminded that while that person felt comfortable in the grooves and shape of those shoes, they surely didn't feel comfortable on me. In fact, they were downright painful because of the fact they were too small and the carving of the wood against the bottom of my feet hurt.

We may see other people's *things* or lives and want what they have.

We may wish we could just walk in their shoes.

But I don't think we always know the real path those shoes have gone and if we were to really walk in that person's shoes we would find out just how blessed we really are.

We all have our own struggles; we all have our own pains. They are meant for us to grow us into what the Lord wants us to be. Sometimes those struggles do not appear on the outside... kind of like those wooden shoes that showed only smoothness on the outer parts. On the inside that person may be struggling so much that their path is very difficult to walk like I felt on the inside of those wooden shoes.

It brought to my mind the old saying don't judge someone until you have walked a mile in his shoes.

As I slipped back on my Birkenstocks that are formed for MY feet I was so thankful to have my feet back into my own shoes. It took a while for me to break in my Birkenstocks when I first got them and make them mold to my feet. Now.... they are just right.

So.... what can we learn from this?

Don't ever judge someone else's life and think it is perfect or without pain and suffering. You never know what would happen if you knew what was INSIDE to see what is really happening.

Be thankful for where the Lord is taking you with your own shoes.

11/14/10

I was finally able to get out to a park yesterday and enjoy some of the beauty of fall. It has not been that pretty around here this year. The colors just became more vibrant this past week. I was thankful to have been able to see more up close some of the beauty of the changes of the season. It continues to show God's faithfulness.

Isaiah 43:1b
Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.