Feb. 6, 2008 - Are imaginations a gift of God too?

I wonder, does having a vivid imagination make it easier to have faith?
Of course I know that faith is the gift of God; I'm not intending to be heretical or blasphemous...I'm just pondering. Are imaginations a gift of God too?

I don't have any difficulty having faith in God's protection; it's quite easy for me to imagine angels in tents around my house. Is it more challenging to believe in angels if your imagination is lacking?

Does the ability to envision fairies and elves enable you to grasp the reality of an unseen God who created the world with a Word? Does curiosity about gnomes and goblins make it easier to acknowledge the real existence of angels and demons? Does fancying that pixie dust can make you fly prepare your mind to accept miracles?

Has God given us imaginations so that we can dream about what Heaven looks like? Are we able to grasp its existence and aspire to someday dwell there because we once dreamed of beautiful palaces in far off lands, or enchanted cottages?

Is there a connection at all between faith and imagination?

For me, it is a delight that although I've had to grow up and recognize that there are no such things as leprechauns; I don't have to stop believing in streets paved with gold and a Savior seated at the right hand of the Father. Because there really, truly is such a wonderful place as Heaven, and I know that I'm going there someday! Someday I shall see my Bridegroom face to face. Someday I'll live with Him for all eternity. And if I use my imagination, I can almost picture it....

Jan. 26, 2008 - Moi?

So, I heard it through the grapevine that I'm HSB Featured Blogger of the week.  I guess I should check the HSB home page more regularly.    I am honored and grateful for the recognition, and welcome any of you who might be visiting for the first time as a result.  I've been blogging at HSB for almost 2 years and have thoroughly enjoyed the community here.  I've made so many wonderful friends, and have even had opportunity to meet some in real life; although not as many as I'd like!  Too bad I can't convince my husband to take an indefinite leave of absence from his job so that we can tour the country meeting blog friends face to face and visiting national parks.  I think it sounds like a delightful plan myself!  And imagine the possibilities for real-life learning beyond textbooks.  

Have fun browsing through my archives.  I've tried to organize them as best as I can into categories that make sense (to me anyway).   Now that all eyes are on me, we'll see if I can manage to publish some of the many ideas that have been running through my head for months.  There's nothing like a little pressure and a deadline to get me going.  If any of you have any specific questions that you've just been wanting to ask me forever, feel free to leave a comment with your question and I'll do my best to answer them. 

To start us off, I'll respond to all the comments about the most recent birthday cake.  I baked the cake myself, and intended to assemble it, but my mom took over for me, and then the kids took over for her with the decorating.  It's a very simple heart-shaped design using a 9x9 inch square pan and a 9x9 inch round pan cut in half (the cake not the pan).  Turn the square so it looks like a diamond, and place the semi-circles flush with the upper diagonal edges, frost it and you get a heart.  And that's the extent of my cake decorating ability.  It does make a big cake which can't even fit on a cookie sheet, so you'll have to enlist the help of your dear husband to wrap some posterboard in foil for the base, and then it'll take up all the counter-space so that there's not enough room to put the home-made pizzas on it, and you'll get so frustrated with the lack of space that you'll wish for a bigger kitchen and more couterspace; even though the one you have is plenty big, and you can hardly keep up with keeping the counters clean as it is.  But your kids will have so much fun decorating the cake with imperial red hearts, even though they don't do it the way you wanted it to be done, and after you criticize their best efforts, you'll realize how foolish you are, and you'll have to announce that they should all ignore their grumpy mother, and do whatever the birthday girl and their crazy grandma want. 

And you wonder how I became featured blogger...

Jan. 19, 2008 - Pluck it? Dye it? or Embrace it?

Jan. 8, 2008 - Forever and Always Grumpy

You can tell a lot about what people think about you by the gifts they give to you. 

Today I'm wearing one of my Christmas presents from my mom.  Check me out!

She saw it and couldn't resist buying it.  Afterall, it reminded her of the special Care Bear she had given to me when I was a child.  Yes, while my sisters got Love Bear, Birthday Bear, and Funshine Bear (or was it Cheer Bear?), I got Grumpy Bear.  I still have him.  Isn't he cute? 

Oh, but it gets better!

She also found this great t-shirt  which goes so nicely with the sweatshirt I already possess. 

The funny thing is that I stopped wearing this sweatshirt a while ago as it seemed to cause me to be grumpier.  It almost seemed like wearing the sweatshirt was license to be grumpy.  I don't get into all that positive thinking stuff, but I almost felt like I should wear a Don't Worry Be Happy t-shirt instead of resigning myself to being Not Happy Simply Grumpy all day.  But since my efforts in cheerfulness over the years have failed, and my family still considers me to be "Grumpy,"  I may as well wear my new Christmas clothes and embrace the melancholy.  And for that reason, I may as well pull out my Counting Crows CD.  Bring on the depression!

To tell the truth, receiving such gifts makes me truly appreciative of the people through the years who have stood by me in all  my grumpy glory.  To them I say, "Thank you for brightening my life with all your cheeriness; for making me laugh through my tears, or for crying with me.  For loving me on my grumpiest days and never calling me names which should be reserved for canine of the feminine gender, but often aptly describe me.   You have endured my temper tantrums, slamming doors, pity parties, pouting, and futile attempts at the silent treatment; and yet, you remain steadfast in your love for me.  You know who you are and you mean the world to me.  I'd be even grumpier without you!"  And for the rest of you who have been spared such immature displays of grumpiness, consider yourself fortunate and steer clear when you see me coming down the street with This IS My Happy Face plastered across my chest! 

Now where did my Eeyore earrings get to? 

Jan. 6, 2008 - Christmas Card Conundrum

Who knew you all cared so much about Sour Crap!  I think that was one of my most popular posts ever! 

Now on to my present quandry:  Christmas Cards!  I'm working on them dilligently, trying to improve upon last year where I sent them out the week before Valentine's Day.  I have the letters copied & folded, the return labels neatly placed on the envelopes,  the photo cards in hand, and have been working on compiling the list of recipients all afternoon.  This is a complicated process of comparing those who sent cards to us this year and last, with other family members, and additional friends.  I'm trying to get all of this organized so that it's not such a headache in years to come.  The problem is this: 

I have either too many friends, or too few Christmas cards! 

I just can't accept the former as a true statement, so it must be the latter!  I just knew I should order 75 photo cards, but my husband said I only needed 50, so I bought 60.  It'd take a bit of slashing to get it down to 75, but narrowing the list to 60 seems insane.  What is a girl to do?

There are several factors involved that make this process so complicated.  First, my family is large, and dh's family is huge.  Family alone acounts for 35 cards right off the bat.  Insane!  Some of these people I hardly know, never see, and never send Christmas cards to us, but somehow I am compelled to send them all Christmas cards lest I offend someone.  Add to that the fact that we've lived in 4 different states.  We still have college friends on the list, Maryland friends, and Virginia friends.  Each time we move, the list has been cut and people have been removed.  Every time I have done that, it breaks my heart, and every year I want to be able to add those people to the list again!  Typically, I don't send cards to the in-town people we see regularly (with the exception of family), but every year, somebody from church will break that rule and send us a card and then I feel compelled to return the favor, but then what if someone else from church goes over to their house and sees our picture on their fridge and gets their feelings hurt because we didn't send them a card too.  I hate to hurt people's feelings!!!  Some people only send cards to the people who send them cards, but having endured the lean years when I was too consumed by my babies to be able to get organized enough to send cards myself, it's hard for me to remove people from my list just because they haven't sent me a card.  The result is that when I sit down to make my list, there are easily over 100 names on it!  I don't have a problem sending 100 cards, but my budget does!  Sigh! 

I'm sorry to say that writing this post has not resulted in a catharsis of any sort!  It's still a conundrum, and I need to quit procrastinating, make a decision, slash the list, and mail the 60 cards that I do have.  Not getting a Christmas card from our family will not ruin someone's life forever.  My sincere apologies to those of you whose names have been removed from the list.  It truly breaks my heart to do it.  And no matter what my husband thinks, next year I'm ordering at least 75! 

Dec. 3, 2007 - Where Did I Come From Really?

This has been an extremely full and exhausting weekend, and I really should be sleeping, but while I was checking a couple of blogs "real quick" before I shut down the computer, I found my comment to Marsha to be growing so long that it became a post of its own and I figured it was only right that I post it on my own blog instead of hers. ;) 

So what is it that must be blogged this evening when I should be sleeping?  Well...

Just this evening, my mother announced that we might not be Irish after-all.  In fact, we might be...gasp...Scottish!  Apparently our ancestors started out in Scotland and moved to Ireland where they changed their name.  And the other Irish ancestors?  You know the Smiles who came from Smiler Hill in Ireland.  Well, I've googled it, and there is NO. SUCH. PLACE.  My mother now says that they might actually have been English.  You have no idea what this news does to me!  I have always taken great pride in my Irish ancestry, and I'll never be able to watch another Maureen O'Hara movie with the same feeling again!  And on what will I blame my fiery temper?  Hm?  This announcement has also caused me to wonder whether I'm not actually German, French, and Welsh also.  Perhaps all the people who have thought I am Venezuelan are right.  Or maybe I'm Russian like people used to think I was when I dyed my hair auburn.  Really, in my heart of hearts, I truly believe that I must be Jewish, and my ancestors had to hide the truth because of intense persecution.  It's quite plausible!  All I know is that I'm never going to be comfortable calling myself an Irish, English, French, German, Welsh-American ever again.  And I won't begin to let my mind wander to what I'll do about St. Patrick's Day.  Scottish!  Really!

Nov. 14, 2007 - Bien sur!

There are a million things to do, so of course I'm taking quizzes to find out what my "Inner European" is!   I wouldn't bother posting the results except I think they'll make mon petit chou smile. 

I wasn't surprised by the result, and I was amused by the second line because it really is very fitting. 

At least *I* think so. (grin) 

Vive la France!

Your Inner European is French!

Smart and sophisticated. You have the best of everything - at least, *you* think so.

Sep. 1, 2007 - Top Ten Reasons Why Grown Women Should Not Have Their Mothers Cut Their Hair

I am a very serious, contemplative, person and that often comes across on the blog.  But I'm not serious all the time.  I can often be very silly and am sometimes even funny.  I mean, I make people laugh all the time; although they're often laughing at me, but that's because I've learned that the best jokes are the ones where I am the brunt.  Anyway, in an effort to bring a measure of levity to my blog, I thought I'd share my thoughts on a topic that has recently affected me very personally with serious repurcusions!  I'm talking about HAIR people;  It doesn't get much more serious than this!  But wait, I'm trying to avoid being serious, stick with me people, I'm trying. 

It all started on Father's Day.  I was long overdue for a haircut and wanted to get one before we went out of town for a wedding, and my husband was out of town, so while at my sister's house, with a lot of the family gathered, I asked my sister if she would be willing to come over and watch the kids on her day off while I went to get a haircut.  She seemed willing, but questioned why I didn't just let Mom cut it for me, after all Mom has always cut her hair for her and always does a decent job.  Akward silence.  How exactly does one respond in such a situation with Mom sitting right there, willing to cut your hair, yet obviously nervous about it?  Hmmm! 

Living halfway across the country, I had gotten out of the habit of having Mom cut my hair.  While I only managed to get to the hairdressers about twice a year, it was still an indulgence that I enjoyed.  Hair is such a sensitive topic and can cause much distress.  Being an emotional teenager, many a hair cut ended or began with tears.  Was I willing to go there again with my Mom?  But how does one graciously refuse such an offer without coming across as holier-than-thou.  "Oh, dear sister, it's fine for you to allow Mom to cut your hair, but I've grown accustomed to paying people large sums of money for the privilege of cutting my hair, and you don't mind, of course, babysitting my kids while I do so, do you?"  No, it wasn't going to fly, so my mom cut my hair. (We weren't talking simple trim here, we're talking going back to bangs after not having bangs for the past 4 years.) Right there, that night, the deed was done and unsuprisingly, I hated it.   And of course I couldn't admit that I hated it, even when my sister asked, "Do you hate it?"  Sigh!  

Now a few months have passed, and it's time for a trim, or something;  once again I find myself in the akward position of what to do now.  As I considered going back to my mom again, I came up with this list of 10 Reasons Why Grown Women Should Not Have Their Mothers Cut Their Hair.  I guess I'll be asking my husband to watch the kids for me this time.   Let me know if you agree or not.

# 10.  You totally miss out on the best part of the salon experience when Mom uncerimoniously instructs you to go wet your hair in the bathroom sink.  So much for the relaxing scalp massage!

# 9.  Mom doesn't blowdry and style at then end, so you walk out looking like a wet dog having no idea how the haircut really turned out until you get home and style it yourself.  (Although the latter is not necessarily a bad thing.)

# 8.  Watching your children chase eachother around the house while you're glued to a chair in the Kitchen does not aid in recreating the relaxing haircut experience you get at the salon.  (Nor is it conducive to keeping your head still while Mom is cutting.)

# 7.  Mom thinks you looked your best in 1989 when you looked like Farrah Fawcett with hair "like a lion's mane."  (I am not making this up, she actually said this to me one day!)

# 6.  It doesn't matter how many magazines you flip through searching for the perfect hairstyle because she always cuts it the same way regardless.  (And knowing that you want thick bangs like Rory on the Gilmore Girls does not mean you'll actually look like Rory when she's done.)

# 5.  Mom has always cut her own hair herself and after she's done with you, your father will have a hard time not staring at you as you look just like she did 20 years ago. 

# 4.  Remember how she cut your hair in high school by pulling all your hair into a pony tail on the top of your head and cutting it straight across?  It's called a shag and she was pleased with the results!  (So were you, but you also thought you looked cute in peg legged, pleated, blue jeans). 

# 3.  You can't subtly express your displeasure by giving her a small tip.  (Somehow, "Here's a tip, Mom: NEVER TOUCH MY HAIR AGAIN!" does nothing to improve your mother-daughter relationship.)

# 2.  The moment you sit down on the kitchen stool, you're instantly transported back in time to your childhood with all its angst and all your former insecurities where you fervently pray that your mom won't totally screw up your hair and make you look like a freak.

And the Number One reason why grown woman should not allow their mothers to cut their hair:

(insert drumroll, please)

When she's done and you hate it, you can't go home and call your mom to cry about how the hairdresser butchered your hair. 

 (insert sheepish grin, jazzy music)

P.S.  In the off chance that you actually decide to read my blog, I love you, Mom!  And I appreciate you!  Oh, and you must not have done too bad of a job since a girl at church just got her hair cut, with bangs, saying, "well since you got bangs, I thought I should too."  Aren't you happy to know I'm still a trend setter?  (That doesn't mean I'm letting you cut my hair again!)  Chris is worried that I'm going to hurt your feelings, but I hope you know this is just a vain attempt at humor in the likeness of our favorite, David Letterman. :)  Do you think Dave's Mom still cuts his hair. :)

Oh, and since I know you'll all be clammoring for pictures, here's one I took this evening. 

(What? You didn't think I'd actually allow anyone to take a bad hair picture of moi, did you?  Nope, not even for the blog!) 

This son of mine is in desperate need of a haircut!  Doesn't his hair remind you of the Eighties Brat Pack or Duran Duran?  Imagine what we could do with a little bit of gel!  Unfortunately the task for cutting his hair falls to Yours Truly.  Yep, I'm sure he'll have stories of his own to tell about Mom cutting his hair.  Maybe I should just let Gramma do it. :)

Jul. 26, 2007 - Is it such a shock?

Jul. 1, 2007 - Stuff

Can you believe it's July already?!?  The year is already half-over!  Where has the time gone?

July is a busy month for us.  It's the big birthday month with 1 husband, 2 kids, 1 grandpa, 1 niece, and cousins and aunts etc. etc.  We have company coming in town and more traveling planned before the month is out.  So, it's going to be busy.  The plan for tomorrow is to clean the whole house top-to-bottom.  Think I can do it?  Only if I unplug the computer! (Haha!)  I had hoped to get started Friday, but instead I had the joy of discovering that our water heater was leaking and had partially flooded the basement!  Nice!  So between cleaning up the mess and then working with the plumber, the carpet cleaners, and the insurance company, I didn't get much cleaning done.  I worked hard Saturday, but it was one of those days where despite all my efforts, the house really didn't look much cleaner at the end.  There are a lot less weeds in the garden and the laundry is half done, but I still don't have the satisfaction of checking those two items off the list as they're never ending and far from completion.  Sigh!

On a happier note, please allow me to brag about my son.  I was very critical of him in my Unsocialized? post, so I'm feeling justified in sharing with you that after a week at Cub Scout Day Camp, he got RAVE reviews from his counselor.  She told my husband that he was, "an absolute pleasure!"  He was also "a great helper" and "showed leadership!"  He was the only 2nd year Webelo at the camp as all the other 2nd year Webelos opted for the overnight camping experience.  Being the socialized homeschooler that he is, being the oldest kid didn't phase him at all and he actually helped the 1st year Webelos learn their oaths and such.  So there you go!  He really is a fabulous kid, but even the best kid still has much to learn.  None are perfect, no not one.  I meant to keep this short, but I just have to share one more thing.  Yesterday, we had yet another training opportunity with him.  There were some natural consequences that he had to face and it was tough, but he was really receptive to the spiritual concepts that we were sharing with him, specifically, the battle between the flesh and the spirit.  As he faced the consequences, I asked him to read Romans 6-8 and Colossians 3.  Afterwards, he and I discussed what he had read in Romans.  There is no greater joy than to be able to dissect a passage of Scripture with my son and see the understanding, discernment, and wisdom that God is already giving to him.  It was an amazing time and I was so grateful to see some very important truths sinking into his heart.  Anyway, that should present a more balanced picture than my previous post. 

And on that note.  I'm signing off, and I don't know when I'll be signing on again.  There is much to be done and this thing has a way of sucking me in.  It's a lovely imaginary world, but I need to focus on reality for a little bit.  So pray for me that I can work really hard and get to come back and catch up on all your posts!  :) 

Blessings,

Angel

Jun. 7, 2007 - Blogging Break

The next few days the kids and I are going to be busy with my daddy, aunt, uncle, and grandma.  I hear there will be fishing and shooting involved.  Needless to say, I won't be blogging much!  Have a great weekend, I'll catch up with you next week. 

Yours Truly,

Angel

P.S.  If you're just starving for blog-reading while I'm offline, check out my newest blog addiction: just a nomad.  If you're into travel, adventure, spontaneity, and photography, I'm sure you'll enjoy it too! 

Jun. 6, 2007 - Full Day and Touching Moment

We had a full day today!  It started with a tasty field trip to Maggie Moo's (Can I just say 14% butter fat?!?  Just so you know!) and ended with watermelon and fireworks in the backyard.  Sandwiched between these events was a wonderful afternoon at honeybee's house!  She is such a kindred spirit, a wonderful conversationalist, and a great librarian to boot!  The kids have already gotten started on the great books she let us borrow.  (Thank you, Melissa!)  If you haven't checked out her blog in a while, you must do so, she has awesome pictures and tales from their Virginia vacation!  

Needless to say, I'm wiped out and would rather be in bed than waiting for a load of laundry to finish so that I can put in another one!  As much as I enjoy reading your blogs, I'm not in the mood right now.  My eyes are too tired and my brain, too full!  I did, however, want to post an entry lest I forget a very touching moment with my eldest daughter this evening. 

She and I had a falling out over some vegetables and disobedience.  A little bit after this incident she came in to me and sought my forgiveness, totally of her own initiative.  This is a first for her.  Most of the time, she has to be prompted to apologize or ask forgiveness.  She usually does it willingly, sometimes begrudgingly, but it's rarely her idea.  Unlike my son, "Matthew Henry", and my extremely spiritually sensitive younger daughters; this daughter does not often show so much spiritual maturity.  We have seen hints here and there, and there have been "Ahah!" moments where there is evidence of real understanding, but they are few and far between and it is easy to become discouraged.  She is very introspective and it's hard to know what's going on in her head and heart sometimes.  She's much like her father, so he gets her better than I and we often call her Abigail because she is her father's joy.  But she and I are so very different; so I can get frustrated.  Moments like this one are so encouraging because they are evidence, as I shared with her, that the Holy Spirit is convicting her and that Jesus is alive and working in her!  I spent a great deal of time thanking her, praising her, and encouraging her for coming in to make things right with me.  It was a very special moment.  God is working in her. 

And now I'm typing it all out, in the only diary that I possess, lest I forget.   

Jun. 5, 2007 - Adorable Apron Contest

I'm too tired to post anything fresh and relevant, so I thought I'd try something newsworthy instead!  I just found out from KarenW that Life is Like a Lunchbox is having a contest.  I happen to think the Flirty Everyday Apron is absolutely adorable!  I have an apron which I bought at the grocery store.  I've been pulling it out more often lately as I have a bad habit of splashing grease all over the front of myself and ending up with grease stains on all my t-shirts, but I don't really care for it any more (too many pleats), and have been thinking that I ought to refresh my mediocre sewing skills by making myself a new one, and maybe teaching the girls to make their own matching aprons.  Then we'd look so cute and I could post a picture for you all to "ooh!" and "ahh!" over.  Wouldn't that be fun?  The problem is that even when my mom started teaching me to sew in the 7th grade, I chose the most complicated apron pattern possible with so much ribbon and lace that I never did finish it.  I made a couple of other things, but the apron is probably still in a bag somewhere, full of pins.  Sigh!  So, if I could just win this apron it would save me a lot of grief!   What about you are you into aprons?  Don't they just make you feel like a domestic goddess?  Ha! 

May. 23, 2007 - Only Shattered Glass

“So what are you up to today?”

“Oh, not much.  I’m just sweeping up a thousand little chunks of glass.”

A mighty gust of wind swept through our backyard this afternoon overturning our umbrella and shattering the glass tabletop.  Fortunately none of us were outside and no one was hurt!  The irony is that we were just out shopping for new lawn furniture and had decided to be content with this hand-me-down table that the previous homeowners had left behind.  Instead of purchasing an entire set, we chose 6 coordinating chairs to replace the dirty, moldy, and mildewed ones that originally went with the table.  I guess we’ll be on the lookout for an inexpensive new table after all.    

 I’ve cleaned up bigger messes before, but it was still an unplanned interruption.  While I was cleaning I was pleasantly surprised by a phone call from a college friend.  It was good to hear her voice!  She had been dreaming about reading The Secret Garden after reading this previous post.  It’s amusing that I’m influencing my friends’ dreams with my blogging, but I’m glad that reading my blog has resulted in sweet dreams rather than nightmares!   After I got off the phone with her, I finished my sweeping and pondered the power of the wind and the devastation that it causes.  I thought of those who have had a much greater mess to clean up after the fury of the storm passes.   I swept and prayed; thankful that the destruction that I have faced in my lifetime has been so minimal!  It’s only shattered glass. 

Apr. 30, 2007 - In Awe, Inspired & Itching!

The past couple of months, I've been following the progress of a past acquaintance on her cross-country adventure with her four daughters.  The Stringers moved to Maryland just as we were in the midst of moving from Maryland to Virginia.  My husband got to know them a bit in an adult Sunday School class which he was team-teaching, but I was teaching the 2 year old class at the time and so I didn't get to know them much.  After we left they quickly became friends with all of our friends and every time we'd go back to visit, we'd get to see them too.  They were the kind of people that we wished we could have gotten to know better!  After their stint in Maryland, the Stringers moved back to California, and when Scott was recently deployed on a Navy Cruise, Janelle decided to pack up the four kids, two dogs, and trailer and head East.  Can you imagine?  They've been on the road since March 3rd (that's two months!) and have been having a blast!  I thought I was something special making 1-day road trips from Virginia to Indiana with my crew, but that was nothing! 

Anyway, I just wanted to introduce them to you.  I have so enjoyed following them across the country, and was a little sad that Indiana wasn't on the itinerary---maybe next time.   Better yet, maybe we can go visit them in San Diego!    I've also been blessed by reading some of the past posts of this godly, homeschooling mom!  The body of Christ is full of such fabulous people!  (And Navy wives are some of the all-time best!)  Heaven is going to be an AWESOME place! 

Now I've got the itch for a road trip myself.  Where do you think I should go?  Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Maine, North Carolina, South Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois, Louisiana?  Who's up for company?  Hmmmm....

Check out The Stringer Zoo!