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Random ramblings - isn't that what all blogs are? I'm just playing around, pondering the idea of putting my thoughts somewhere for the world to see.
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In Honor and In Memory of those who lived and died on 9-11-01
I got this in an e-mail:
The 'L I T T L E' things.
As you might know, the head of a company survived 9/11 because his son started kindergarten.
Another fellow was alive because it was his turn to bring donuts.
One woman was late because her alarm clock didn't go off in time.
One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike because of an auto accident.
One of them missed his bus.
One spilled food on her clothes and had to take time to change.
One's car wouldn't start.
One went back to answer the telephone.
One had a child that dawdled and didn't get ready as soon as he should have.
One couldn't get a taxi.
The one that struck me was the man who put on a new pair of shoes that morning,
took the various means to get to work but before he got there, he developed a blister on his foot.
He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid. That is why he is alive today.
Now when I am stuck in traffic, miss an elevator, turn back to answer a
ringing telephone... all the little things that annoy me, I think to myself, this is exactly where God wants me to be at this very moment.
Next time your morning seems to be going wrong, the children are slow
getting dressed, you can't seem to find the car keys, you hit every
traffic light, don't get mad or frustrated;
God is at work watching over you.
May God continue to bless you with all those annoying little things and may you remember their possible purpose.
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Posted: 7:57 AM, Sep. 11, 2006 |
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Created to Be His Help Meet - Part 3
Chapter 5 - Wisdom
Don't know why they chose this chapter to include an argument about women in leadership in the church. I sit the fence here. I think there is a distinction between a woman who is preaching and a woman who is pastoring. I can preach/teach without being a pastor with authority over a flock.
I was once in the "If he's not loving you as Christ loves the Church you don't have to submit" camp. No more, but not because of this book!
Chapter 6 - The Beginning of Wisdom
Well, I admit, I needed the reminder that I am not my husband's Holy Spirit. Thanks, Debi. And I do know someone who has made bitterness and anger an art form. I thought about giving her this book.
Chapter 7 - Wisdom While there is Yet Hope
Scare tactics at work in this chapter, big time. If you try to persuade your husband that he's negatively influencing the kids, you'll end up divorced because you're not honoring him.
'Nuff said.
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Posted: 8:47 AM, Aug. 10, 2006 |
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Created to Be His Help Meet - Part 2
I just read the infamous "trash bag" story in Ch. 4. My only thought about that was why in the world did she clean up HIS mess? He's the one who was showing off, he's the one that caused the bag to break by his brazen display of manly strength. He should have picked it up and not walked away, leaving her to do it!!!! That would never happen here, for sure! (I could have lived without reading the last several paragraphs, too. TMI!!!)
But then, I realized how many times Jesus has picked up my messes. I try to show off and live this life the way I want to, and leave Him to sort out and straighten up the mess I've made. *SIGH*
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Posted: 10:44 AM, Jul. 14, 2006 |
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Created to Be His Help Meet
I'll be reviewing this as I go through it.
This book sparked many heated conversations on another forum I used to frequent. I ordered it some time ago, but only just started reading it.
There is a phrase in Ch 2, in response to a letter about what to do when your man's eyes and heart are wandering to the point of considering an affair; which I thought could be easily yanked out of context. Imagine if you were told by a homeschooling, dress wearing, Proverbs 31 AND Titus 2 type of woman:
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If you want to keep your man and the father of your children, you are going to have to forget your rights as a wife and forget his Christian obligation to his vows.
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Sounds awful, doesn't it? But in context it made a lot of sense, for that SPECIFIC situation. What she was saying to this woman was that her husband's heart was being divided between his wife and his secretary, and as his wife, she was not going to get anywhere playing the, "I am your wife, you louse, get away from her!!" card. She was in a WAR with the 'other woman' for her husband's heart. She needed to give him a reason (several reasons) to IN HIS HEART want his wife instead of his secretary. She needed to fall in love with him again, and draw him back.
The early chapters are mainly about thinking about how we act when our husbands come home. Who wants to come home to a whining, complaining, discontent wife? I sure don't! ;) And it really does work. You smile - they smile back! |
Posted: 1:43 PM, Jul. 11, 2006 |
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10 Simple Pleasures
A friend started this on her message board.
In no particular order:
1. Hot water in the shower
2. When my ds hollers "Love you!" over his shoulder as he's running out the door
3. sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy.... (everybody SING!)
4. a baby laughing
5. air conditioning
6. getting a new book
7. when someone else washes the dishes
8. Holy Communion
9. Old Spice cologne
10. seeing my dh smile |
Posted: 9:37 AM, Jun. 29, 2006 |
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Gabriel's Recital Pictures
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Ashleigh's Recital Pictures
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Recital Time
Today is the first half of dress rehearsal. This is Gabriel's debut tap performance. He's very excited about it. He's wearing a Detroit Lions jersey and hat. The song is a mix of several songs you hear played at NFL games. His class is called "BoyzONLY" and there will be "boyz" ages 4-13 doing their best to steal the show!
Rosey's ballet class is dancing to "Forgotten Overture" from Finding Neverland, she got her first tutu this week and it's breathtaking! I might learn how to post pictures here... She's also in jazz, "Viva la Fiesta" and Immanuel Praise ballet with Ashleigh, "Your Grace is Enough."
Ashleigh is in 6 dances this year. Ballet is "Sing Your Praise to the Lord" by Amy Grant, tap is "No Parking on the Dance Floor," jazz is "We're Gonna Party," lyrical is "Word of God Speak," Immanuel Praise, and the tap production finale, "Rockabilly Rhythm." She's going to be worn out!!!
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Posted: 10:24 AM, Jun. 14, 2006 |
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Dance, dance, dance
The last 2 weekends have been spent in Indy for dance competitions.
This is Rosey's first year on the dance team. They've done well. I am
SO thankful for a Christian dance studio that considers the audience
when planning choreography and costumes. They don't use exclusively
Christian music, it's really hard to find Christian songs to tap dance
to! But their tummies are covered and they're not up there dancing like
ladies at "gentlemen's clubs" 
are known to dance. Unfortunately, that's a lot of what's seen from
other studios. Seriously, I don't know what some parents are thinking
letting their daughters dress like that! One of the reasons that Dustin
doesn't come along! (The main reason is that somebody has to stay home
with Gabriel!) He'll get to see their dances at the recital in June.
We get this weekend off for Mother's Day - but I'm still going to Indy
with Mom and my sisters for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory on
Saturday. 
Sunday I'll get to go to church! We don't usually have competitions
back-to-back weekends like that, and I haven't attended a Sunday
service since April 23rd. It'll be nice.
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Posted: 12:34 AM, May. 12, 2006 |
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Spiritual A-ha Moment
I wish I could take the credit for
writing this, but I really identify with so much of it that I had
to post it. Besides the fact that I've not updated in so long!
(NOTE***I haven't become Catholic, but I am catholic.  ) Any Baptists reading this, please do not be offended. We are many members of One Body! 
Being Baptist, I learned that we were operating under grace, and had no
need of all those ‘rules’ that the Jews had made up. Yet, living as a
Baptist meant I was SURROUNDED by rules, oppressive rules. Everyone was
so uptight about how they lived the Christian walk. It was VERY rules
oriented in LIFE despite what they SAID. Make a mistake? You were more
likely to be stoned than understood and encouraged. Don’t tell me that
isn’t true… I bear the bruises. For all their teachings about how we
are saved by faith and not by works, when I had faith, but my ‘works’
weren’t what the righteous thought they should be, I paid the price…
and there was no grace to be had. That said, they were churches that
LOVED God, that actively worked to preach and live the Truth… but ...
they had stripped away some things and were left with only a glimmer of
what should have been. And, they were WAY too occupied with the
‘theology of the door’. Am I saved? How can I know for sure? Yada yada
yada. It took an extreme amount of effort and self directed study to
even realize that it wasn’t really even ABOUT the door, and once you
got to THAT point… you realize that there isn’t much food left on the
Baptist table that is going to do you much good.
When
I became Catholic, it meant I had to accept those ‘obvious things’… and
in the process of doing so, I began to see God add back in all those
things which had been stripped away… layers of meaning and richness to
the faith… and I realized that in the light of those new layers and
those ‘obvious things’… there was MUCH more to be learned and
understood, much more spiritual food, than I had ever known before…in
fact, my table was in danger of breaking. I had been living on a
Survivor diet spiritually… it was enough for me to survive… but it
wasn’t enough for me to really GROW and mature.
Not
only that, but the joy and the peace that I thought I was experiencing
was NOTHING compared to what I had after, and the grace? Unbelievable.
I am not so uptight anymore about failing… do I try hard not to? Yes,
but now it is because I don’t want to grieve Him or the Body that is
walking with me and supporting me in Him, instead of because that Body
will condemn me for that failure… and I know that now, when I fail
(because I am still human), there will be a hand to help me up, a
commiserating smile to meet my sheepish grin, and a hug to send me on
my way. The freedom that I always was told I would find in Christ, I
had finally found...
Ultimately,
the difference is that when you are operating with only the red or
yellow or blue or green strand of the light spectrum… you can only
understand and grow, and develop so far as that branch of the spectrum
extends… When you integrate all those ‘obvious things’ you are
integrating them with whichever color strand you were operating in for
so long… and NOW you have not only the excruciatingly bright, white
light of the Truth… you have all that encompasses, all the richness of
all the other ‘colors’ and you are able to understand in a way that you
couldn’t have done when looking through a red, or yellow, or blue, or
green filter.
It
is so hard to describe… I’ve used a hodgepodge of analogies here… but
there is no way better that I can think of to explain how limited and
discolored what was available to me was, and how much more there is,
and how much clearer it is… I keep going back to the water analogy… it
is as if I had lived all my life in a swimming pool thinking the deep
end of that pool was really great and not understanding why somehow it
wasn’t enough… only to have God come along and say well it isn’t enough
because… and reintegrate my rainbow, strip off the floaties I was using
to help navigate that swimming pool and plunge me into the ocean… with
all the depth, and beauty, and majesty, and glory that I had been
hungering for but couldn’t name. Having swum in the ocean, think scuba
dive or something where you are seeing things and experiencing things
you just CAN’T get in a pool… imagine trying to explain that difference
to someone who has only ever known the swimming pool? How do you
explain it? Can you really? Can they really understand without taking
that step of faith, saying what if it is REALLY that different, that
beautiful, and jumping in to experience it themselves?
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Posted: 10:40 AM, May. 11, 2006 |
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How's the weather today?
I had a "teachable moment" the other day. I'd heard about them from other homeschooling moms, but I'd never witnessed one in my own family, so I wasn't sure if they were real or not. 
Gabriel did school (even *gasp* math!) before noon yesterday! He woke up, saw the snow, mentioned something about it looking like Antarctica which prompted me to pull out his science book on weather to log it. This led to:
~a crocheting lesson
~reading a chapter plus some of Hank the Cowdog - It's a Dog's Life
~a math lesson with the abacus and learning a cute little song (*sigh* if only I could put all of his math lessons to music!)
He's also working on teaching our dog, Haddie, some new tricks - does that count as pre-veterinary ed?  |
Posted: 4:03 PM, Mar. 22, 2006 |
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Laughter is the best medicine!
Ashleigh: In a perfect world, there would be no wars. We'd have dance-offs instead.
(background:
I was trying to talk Rosey into joining my liturgical dance ministry,
telling her how it would be a good way for us to spend quality time
together)
Rosey: Can't you just take me shopping?
Gabriel: You know what's great about dreams? You don't need a seat belt for the ride!
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Posted: 8:46 AM, Mar. 16, 2006 |
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First things first
I
love to start new things. Finishing them is another matter entirely. I
start cleaning and get sidetracked. I start reading a book about making
a schedule and get so bogged down with guilt about my lack of
scheduling that I don't finish the book. I started a counted cross
stitch last summer that I intended to give my mom for Christmas. Or her
birthday in February. Maybe I'll have it done by her and my step-dad's
anniversary in June. Surely by Christmas I'll be finished with it. Or
her birthday next February.
Schooling is the same way. In the fall we're all ready to dig into the
new school books. Never fails, I'll tell my darling children that
school starts on September 8th, and they start asking if they can do
school on August 12th. I'll put them off for a week, then cave and let
them start "early." We get a gung-ho start and fizzle almost
immediately.
So I think if I have this blog-thingie, I have some semblance of
accountability. If I know someone is peering over my shoulder, I might
just get off this machine and do something productive. I'll at least
get started!  "Lord willing and the creek don't rise!"
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Posted: 1:00 PM, Mar. 13, 2006 |
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