11/07/09

I loved the contrast in color when I saw this beautiful red leaf on the bed of moss. Simple yet bold. :)


Here is something I heard in devotions on Thursday and my Mom shared with me the next day! I felt it was definitely something worth posting. You may have read it before, but it is worth reading again.

"Wet Pants"

Come with me to a third grade classroom. There is a nine year old kid sitting at his desk and all of a sudden, there is a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants are wet. He thinks his heart is going to stop because he cannot possibly imagine how this has happened. It's never happened before, and he knows that when the boys find out he will never hear the end of it. When the girls find out, they'll never speak to him again as long as he lives....

The boy believes his heart is going to stop; he puts his head down and prays this prayer: 'Dear God, this is an emergency! I need help now! Five minutes from now I'm dead meat.'

He looks up from his prayer and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he has been discovered.

As the teacher is walking toward him, a classmate named Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl that is filled with water. Susie trips in front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl of water in the boy's lap.

The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while is saying to himself, 'Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!'

Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out. All the other children are on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. The sympathy is wonderful. But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his has been transferred to someone else -- Susie.

She tries to help, but they tell her to get out. "You've done enough, you klutz!"

Finally, at the end of the day, as they are waiting for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and whispers, 'You did that on purpose, didn't you?' Susie whispers back, 'I wet my pants once, too.....'

May God help us see the opportunities that are always around us to do good....

11/06/09

I found a little splash of color among the leaves that had fallen. It's always nice to have a bit of color on a "dull" day.


I have a poster in my room that says "A day without laughter is a day wasted." (can't remember who actually said that... it's on the poster) The Bible says in Proverbs 17:22a "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." I can say that when laughter is around, it takes your mind off of your troubles. God wants us to laugh and enjoy life!

Have you laughed today?

If you have, good... you didn't waste the day. :)

11/05/09

Oh the beauty of the earth.... (click to view the majesty of those colors...)

Kevin and I are off to see South Pacific tonight. Should be a great evening... I just hope I stay awake. lol

I was singing this song the other day in preparation for the second grade Christmas play. This song is "intertwined" with another song in the play. I have been working with the pianist to get the music right since I have to teach it. (Any of you that have heard me sing in real life, I do not need comments on that right now...LOL)

I realize this song talks about spring, but I felt it could go very well with the beauty of fall. Enjoy the words to this hymn today:

Fairest Lord Jesus

Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul's glory, joy and crown.

Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,
Robed in the blooming garb of spring:
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer
Who makes the woeful hearts to sing.

Fair is the sunshine, fairer still the moonlight,
And all the twinkling starry host:
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels heaven can boast.

Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
Now and forevermore be thine.

11/04/09

Wesley and I found these mushrooms growing on this log when we walked through Yates Mill the other day. It is always neat for me to see things growing like this. Click on them to view more detail.


Remember this song from the late '70's/early 80's: "She's got Betty Davis' eyes...."

Do you have the tune in your head now?

Good.

Sing these words to the tune instead:

"Wesley's got his Momma's eyes!!"

Before you start thinking that he has large "cow eyes" like his Mom, that is not what I am meaning.
(He does have large cow eyes like me, his are just in blue instead of brown, but I need you to move past that.)

NO..... here is the reason:

MY BOY HAS TO GET GLASSES.

OY.

Now, I realize this is something that happens to people every day.

I realize my boy needs to be able to see and do his work.

This is also what I realize:

I know what life is like to be "blind as a bat" and everyone is blurry. I hate that he has inherited this from me.

I know that my sweet child has a hard time keeping up with many things. Glasses are now on that list.

I know that I will be reminding him of those glasses -- A LOT.

I was so hoping that both our children would inherit Steve's 20/15 vision.

Genetics stink sometimes.

It's going to be a long time before he's ready for contacts.

I need to hush and be thankful that other than his eyes being a little bit *off* he is healthy and glasses are not the end of the world.

Please remind me of that last point when he can't find his glasses..... ha! :)

11/03/09

This is a picture that really needs to be "clicked on" to get the full effect. I just always think it is so lovely to walk along a path and look up, so that is kind of what I did. That walk in those woods with my babies was a simple pleasure that God gave us that day.

On the way back home from piano lessons after school we were stopped at a stoplight and saw a couple of flocks of birds going to and fro all around the sky above us. It was the neatest thing to watch as the leaders changed directions and all of the birds followed. Wesley and Mikayla were loving it.

When we got home we had a lovely meal of Wendy's fast food. It was just one of those nights.... We had a simple pleasure of watching a cooking show while eating our junk wholesome food. The kids got our their blanket and sat in the middle of the den floor. It was great to have a break from the hurry scurry we normally experience every night.

Simple pleasures in life... sometimes we get so caught up in the busyness that we forget to see them. Did you have a simple pleasure from the Lord today?

11/02/09

This is from a devotion I have read. These are not my personal words but I needed this today so that is why I posted it. Maybe you can use it as well.

Psalm 86:1 - Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me: for I am poor and needy.

In Psalm 86, David talks about his distress and overcomes it through praise and worship - through prayer. You could pray this psalm during those times of pain in your life.

The first verse is one of my favorites! Notice that just as a child whispers into the ear of a parent, David is asking God to bow down His ear and hear him. We need to remember that God cares about us and loves us. He is not so big that He cannot bow down to hear us.

When we are weak, sick, and despondent, our mighty God will have respect for our prayers and our faith - and He will listen to us.

11/01/09

If you look closely in this first picture you can see Yates Mill.... you may have to click on it to see it.
This weekend has been crazy and we've not been home very much. Yesterday we went around with the kids all dressed up to various areas and let them enjoy the moments.

Mikayla was "Kirsten" the American Girl Doll. She wanted to be that one because Kirsten is being retired at the end of this year.

This outfit she is wearing was actually mine. I wore it in second grade... over 30 years ago. It is actually a "Czechoslovakian" outfit from a play we did, but we made it work for out west in the 1850's. lol Her hair was so cute to me.... loved it.

Wesley wanted to be a Revolutionary War soldier again. This time he looked a bit more authentic than at school.

He was loving the rifle....

Both of my cutie patooties.

This one made me laugh because right when I was taking the picture and Mikayla put her arms around him, his hat hit the rifle and was pushed down. lol

:) We had a good time yesterday. We enjoyed seeing as many people as we could.

Family shot before we left to gallivant all over creation.