09/07/08

Here are a few pictures from last Saturday at the Farm Days. These are of the red Chevrolet truck I saw that was so pretty to me. I love that color red! :)




Well, lets just say that last night we didn't get a lot of sleep. At least the kids and I didn't. lol Steve slept just fine. The kittens were a silly mess! Isabelle slept with me and Sampson slept with the kids for the first part of the night. I was so scared I was going to roll over and crush Isabelle because she is so little!!

Isabelle decided around 1:30 or so to wake up and probably need to go to the bathroom. I took her to the litter box where she quickly looked at me like I was crazy and got out. (I found out a little later that she decided to use the bathroom where SHE wanted to go. lol... We're working on that!!!) She then comes back into our room after crying to find out where all the "people" were and I put her on the bed with me again. She felt so good and rested at that point that she wanted to play! It was 2:00 am!!! Not playing time for sure!!! She rolled and purred and "kneeded dough" on me and was just so happy to be with me.

I realized if i didn't get any sleep I wouldn't make it through church today!! I put her outside our door and closed our door. She made her way to Mikayla's room to where Sampson was and the kids put her in the bed with all of them. There they all "slept" the rest of the night. Too funny, but again, not a lot of sleep going on. I know each night will get better because they will learn where everything is. Wesley passed out on the couch at Mom's today because as he put it "I didn't sleep at ALL last night!" :)

The kids have been really responsible about doing their part. I am proud of them for taking on the task and not complaining. Of course, they know it is expected to stay that way after the new wears off, too. lol

Yesterday we had Tropical Storm Hanna blow through here. We got over 4 inches of rain! God has blessed us in so many ways this year to get us out of the drought we were in last year.

After the storm was over the clouds began to clear and the blue sky began to peek through. Steve and I were talking about how pretty it always is after a storm. Steve said it was almost like the storm "cleans" the atmosphere and makes everything sparkly again.

I told Steve it reminded me of the analogy of God taking us through storms of our lives. He is the "Peace in the Midst of the Storm." When we feel like our world is going topsy turvy and blown every way, when we feel there is no hope, God is there and has His hands firmly holding us. Then, when the storm is over, we begin to see those blue skies that promise us God has never left... He's been there the whole time taking care of us while that stormed passed by.

It was interesting that our pastor spoke on that today. I love when the Lord brings things like that together to continually learn something. Pastor was talking about the time the disciples were in the boat on the Sea of Galilee and the storm broke out. They were all "alone" in the boat and Jesus was on the mountaintop praying. Pastor spoke about how calmly Jesus walked on the water out to the boat and told the disciples to not be afraid. Pastor shared with us that it is kind of hard NOT to be afraid when your boat is taking on water, you have been rowing for hours upon hours and just don't see the shoreline and the winds and the waves are enough to cause you to tremble. Yet... Jesus' first words to His disciples that night were: "It is I, be not afraid."

With Christ we need not fear when the storms of life blow us around and toss us to and fro. We need to always trust and remember that God KNOWS all about our trials and tribulations, but He is there holding us and reminding us to "not be afraid" for the blue sky will return. In the process of it all we will draw closer to Him. It is something I continue to learn daily.

09/06/08

One month ago exactly we lost Ashes.

Today, we brought home Isabelle and Sampson! :)

Oh, how cute they have been. The kids (and ME!) have had a blast with them. They are trying to find all of their "stuff" (litter box, food, etc...) and are stilllll trying to find it at times. lol Such is the life with kittens. They seem to have adjusted well so far. It is definitely not going to be boring around here!! It will be like having infant twins again... oh, wait... they could technically be considered twins. lol

It is a good learning experience for the kids. They are having to clean up some stuff that they haven't done before.... hee hee. They have had a blast playing with the kittens and really tired them out!! The last picture shows how the kittens got beside each other and went to sleep. It really is great that they have a companion.

I have called Isabelle "Ashes" many times tonight. Old habits are just hard to break, I guess.

I am glad they are home. We'll see how much sleep we get tonight. lol :) Enjoy the pictures!

Sampson

Isabelle

09/05/08

Here is another picture of one of the old cars from last Saturday. :)

I have been "tagged" by my blogging/"old" friend Gretchen!

I am supposed to tell all of you six unique things about me, so here goes:

1. I could live off of chocolate.... really

2. I am basically one hour early to work every day. (around 6:35am)

3. I like to pop my gum when I chew it. (I annoy a lot of people, but I can really get going when I'm thinkin')

4. I can yell realllllllly loudly. (I am always asked to call the names at carpool when it rains. I could probably win the Spivey's Corner Hollerin' contest!)

5. I am ritualistic when I clean.

6. If I had no concern about money I would travel all around the world.


Now, I am going to "tag" some of my other friends in bloggerland. They now have to do this on their blogs! :)

Rantings of a Sane Man
SlapShot Sal (this one could include Morgan, Sal!!!)
Gavette's Blog
Get Real
Life with Kids
Just Being Aimlyss

If I've tagged you, then post 6 unusual things about yourself with a link back to me.
Then, tag, you're it!

Go tag 6 of your fave's

09/04/08

Another short post tonight. Busy just isn't the word this week! :)

Here is a set of "gadgets" that used to be sold "way back when." This whole truck was loaded with all kinds of old things. I took a pic of a few of them. Click on this first picture to make it larger so you can see more of the neat things.


This second picture is an apple peeler.... and I thought Pampered Chef was the first to invent something like that!!! Someone had invented it long ago.... Those gears to work that peeler were amazing to see. If you click on this picture you can actually see something that looks a bit "foreign" to us now... this was actually made in the USA!!!

09/03/08

First night of AWANA at church. Gonna be a short post. lol Hope you like the picture! Just think of it as "somebody's got their eye on you!!!!" hee hee... Excuse Steve's hand in the picture.. I haven't had time to crop and what not. I am trying to learn how to photograph old cars and such. I have some better ones I took for later. Just thought this one was fun. :)

09/02/08

I took this picture at the Farm Days the other day. These little piglets were so cute. They made me think of "Wilbur" from Charlotte's Web. I love that movie... and no matter how many times I see it, I always cry when Charlotte dies at the end. Yes, I cry over a spider dying when, in fact, each week here lately, I suck a zillion up in the vacuum that have accumulated in the corners of my home in less than a weeks time. lol Talk about an oxymoron. hee hee


Today started off like any normal back to school day. But as the day started at school I was once again reminded of God's greatness to me and others.

In our devotions this morning before school started, we had one of the middle/high school teachers come and share her testimony with us. I have known this teacher for, well, over 20 years now. She and I had a summer together you might say. (She was about to become a senior and I was to be a junior in high school.) She began to share her testimony with us and parts of it I already knew simply because of spending that summer with her. She and I were never close as far as best buds, but she and I and a few others from church seemed to always hang out together. Her life that summer was in shambles. She had gone down the wrong path and had run away from home and was going with a boy that was not the best influence. Her parents had to step in and take action before their daughter continued to go down a path of drugs and alcohol. Well, she shares with us today that our little group from church, and then she mentioned me by name, had made the biggest difference in her life that summer.

ME???

I was humbled.

I knew how I was as a teenager. I wasn't into what she was into at the time, but I was by far perfect. I had dated my own "basket case" of a boy at that time! I look back now and see how MUCH I have grown in the Lord since then. Of course, I can look back just a week and see how much I have grown in Him. Each day is growth. I just couldn't believe I could have had that much influence over her at that time in my life.

Apparently, I had more influence than I even realized.

She went on to say that we all accepted her unconditionally that summer. We gave her encouragement, scripture, songs, and thoughts that helped her understand what her parents were trying to show her. She said that I went with her to her boyfriend's house for her to say goodbye. (I vaguely remember doing that.) She said I was just there to be by her side as she began to turn a corner in giving her life to the Lord. Shortly after that trip to her boyfriend's house, she was sent to a Christian Girl's Home where she got her life straight and accepted the Lord as her Savior.

She thanked me openly in front of all the teachers and it brought tears to my eyes. Tears that made me look back and see that, even though I know I feel I was inadequate at that time in my life, God still used me. God used an everyday person (a teenager to boot!) to help someone else know the love of the Lord. I said it before, but I'll say it again..... I was humbled.

She came over to me after devotions were over and I felt like I was stumbling all over myself to tell her my thoughts. I just told her I knew how I needed to grow so much then myself and I couldn't believe I could make that much of a difference in her life. She said there were things we all said, or just the way we lived our lives that summer that helped her to see the love of Christ.

I truly didn't know what to say. How could I put into words something for which I had no words because I felt so inadequate for how I was at that time of my life!

Believe me, I am still not perfect. I have not reached a "plateau" and arrived at some point where I know it all. I truly hope no one is reading this and thinking I am trying to "toot my own horn." I am far from that... I am still learning, growing, maturing. That will not end until I see Christ face to face!

What I do know is that I thank the Lord that He used me that way some 20 years ago.

I am thankful that He has seen fit to bring me through my own trials and valleys where I have learned to continue to put my trust in Him, time and again. Today caused me to look back on my life and see how far the Lord has brought me, yet how far I have to go in becoming more like Him. It continues to help me see what an impact I have in the lives of my students and parents every day. Only the Lord can help me be all I need to be.

Humbled. Thankful.

Those two words would describe my day.

09/01/08

It is hard to believe it is September. In three months we'll be decorating for Christmas!

Today was Labor Day... a day off of school. :) I was trying to think back to why I didn't remember much about a restful Labor Day last year and then it hit me... I had just had my gallbladder removed the Friday before and was in no shape to be rested. lol I can't believe it has already been a year.

We worked on different stuff around the house today. I had to get some things done for the fair but didn't get very far, unfortunately! The kids worked out in the yard with Steve most of the day. Wesley helped him cut grass and Mikayla took some weeds off to the pasture. They both helped "chop" down a holly bush that had overtaken one of our beds in the back. It was good to see them working with Steve. We then went shopping to get a few things I needed for school as well as the stuff for the kittens. I continued to see today that I am really not a shopper. I just hate to spend money. lol :)

I thought I would show pictures of sugar cane from the other day. I teach my students about it so it was nice to see it up close. I need to print these off to show the kids. This is what Mikayla eventually tasted the molasses from the other day. It was neat to see how they used to do it with a donkey on a tree being led around it as the "machine" squeezed the juice out of the sugarcane. Now we have all kinds of machinery that takes the place that! (BTW... that donkey was NOT happy when we went to see him. I am thankful there was a tree in the way or one of us would have gotten hit with part of his equipment when he started going around in circles bucking the two men who were trying to hold him!) Enjoy the pictures. I am off to get myself ready for another day of school. :)

The donkey had been attached to the tree in the picture below. You can see the piles of the sugarcane once the juice is squeezed out it them. They then worked with the juice over a fire pit area and kept stirring it until it was made into the molasses. I honestly don't know all of the steps they took to get it to that point because we didn't stay there long enough to find out! You may need to click on the photo to see it larger.