Fifty Cents

Last week, my sisters and mom and I were at Goodwill. Ashley and I always talk about how we think some things are really sad to see in Goodwill, e.g. wedding dresses, etc. This time, though, she found this, and it beats anything sad we’ve ever seen there.

It’s a little “Hello Kitty” notebook…but the sad thing is what’s inside.

“I love you and I miss you. Me and Mommy miss you. My Dad is working in Iraq. I can’t wait for you to drive us to Disney World. I can’t wait to see you again, Daddy.”

That just broke our hearts, and for fifty cents, I had to buy it. I couldn’t stand leaving it there.

Lord, please be with this little girl and her family. Watch over them. Keep her daddy safe in Iraq, and protect the rest of the family while he is away. Help her to understand why he’s gone, and to be proud of him for the work that he is doing. Bring him home safely, and allow them to have a family vacation to remember. Amen.

“When We Were Little” Wednesday

When I was little, my sister and I would play “school” for hours. Hours. At some point, our parents had acquired some real school desks – with compartments under the seat and slots on the top for pencils and everything – and we used those things constantly. We would place them somewhere and map out the house as our school. We had some old school books that had come from Salvation Army or somewhere, and we’d pack up a backpack and go to class. We would do actual work, straight out of the textbooks. There were designated places for our lockers and the gym. We would have elaborate paths for changing classes, and we would spend a fair amount of time arranging our class schedules.

I can only imagine what we were thinking. Still in elementary school ourselves, it is clear that we were emulating what we saw our older sister doing (being that she was in high school). I’m sure we imagined that we were “big kids,” too, and that the way we were doing it was exactly the way it would be when we got there one day. Our parents, though, must have thought it couldn’t get any better (or weirder), since much of our school-playing time took place during the summer.

Oh! I almost forgot one of the funnier aspects. We would make up names for our game, and nearly every time Ashley was “Tina” and I was “Amy.” I don’t have any idea where that came from.

Ashley (“Tina”) and me (“Amy”)

Tossed

This scene has been good for many, many laughs around here. Maybe it'll bring some smiles into your day, too.

She does this every time, and we can't tell who has trained who. Have we trained her, or (as is more likely) has she trained her daddy?

Lord, let there be many more.

This past weekend was fa-bu-lous. The temperatures were exquisite – nearly 70 both days – and there was just no way I could justify not being outside. When I first heard that the weather was going to be so nice, I told Scott I wanted us to have some time as a family at the park. After church on Sunday (and after Leah had a good, long nap), we did just that.

It was lovely. Of course, since the weather was one of those fantastically rare February days that begs everyone to come out of hibernation, the park was packed. You could literally hear the joy as everyone soaked up some much-needed sunshine and stretched their wintered muscles in the fresh air. We got Leah on the swings for awhile (until she looked like she could fall asleep). We bobbed on the little seesaw and bounced on the bouncy ATV. We ran through the amphitheater, trying to keep Leah from doing a kamikaze dive down the steps. We chased Leah’s ball and watched other kids on their bikes. Really, Leah was more interested in watching everyone else and in picking up random leaves and sticks…..but I think she had a good time. I know her daddy and I did, and we’re excited about more days like that this spring and summer.

Many, many thanks to my bloggy and Facebook photographer friends who introduced me to Picasa for editing my pictures. Can I even tell you how much fun I’m having? Collages and slideshows and special effects….I’m in heaven.

Pressing On

Random pictures of late that make me smile.

It’s been a little while since I posted because….life has intervened.

I told Scott last night that I get so frustrated every time I try to get my act together and organize things and stop letting life be so haphazard. Every time I set out to do this, it seems like things go in just the opposite direction and get so much worse.

I’m experiencing much the same thing in my spiritual life. I’m drawing closer to God, which should make things easier and better….but instead, I see more of my shortcomings. That frustrates me and drives me closer to being frustrated and depressed than to spiritual enlightenment.

*sigh*

As my accountability partner told me last week, it sounds like I need to “press on.” Just keep on keeping on. I’m going in the right direction, whether it seems like it or not.

In our first class of Financial Peace University last night, he put it this way: Discipline isn’t fun at the time, but it brings great rewards. This idea is also expressed in the book of Hebrews:

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (12:11)

So press on, I shall.

“How to Reach Your Full Potential For God,” by Charles Stanley

Thomas Nelson Publishers recently sent me a free copy of How to Reach Your Full Potential For God, by Charles Stanley, for me to read and review.

I was excited about reading this, because at this stage in my life I’m really looking for direction for my writing and for my personal ministry. I thought, “If something is standing in the way of my potential, I’d better find out what it is and deal with it!” It seemed, from the description, like this book would be great to help with that.

Well, I have to be honest. I was disappointed. I wasn’t disappointed in the message of the book as much as the delivery of the message. Does that make sense? I had never read anything by Charles Stanley before, and his style…well, it didn’t capture me. My husband summed it up best when he said, “Sounds like it’s just not relevant.” Bingo. It’s not relevant to my life and how I experience God, so it was hard for me to get through. His message – of clearing any obstacles out of your life that might keep you from reaching the potential that God has placed in you – is good, but his delivery is just not.

If that sounds harsh, I’m terribly sorry. It’s not my way, though, to provide a positive review if I just didn’t feel it.

If you have read others by Charles Stanley, though, and enjoy his style, it’s safe to say that you’ll like this one. It’s available from any book retailer and Thomas Nelson Publishers.

“When We Were Little” Wednesday

When I was little – in second grade, I think – we read a book in school called Hannah is a Palindrome.

I don’t remember much about the book, but I do remember that it featured a little girl named Hannah who discovered that her name was, in fact, a palindrome. (A palindrome is a word that’s the same backwards and forwards. Just in case you didn’t have to read this book when you were little.) I remember that night having to come up with a list of other palindromes for homework.

Somehow, and for some reason, the concept of a “palindrome” stuck with me. I still look for palindromes, and it has become a strange compulsion to read words backwards. I like to actually read them backwards, deciphering what they would be if they were spelled in reverse.

I’m weird. I can’t help it. Blame it on Hannah.

This isn’t Hannah, though. This is me, on field day during my second grade year. Spiffy.

Beads for Fat Tuesday

 

 

 

 

 

Wrapped in Blankets White

Saturday morning I got up early, before Leah and Scott, and went for a walk in the snow. It was wonderful. The whole neighborhood was still asleep, it seemed, and the only sound I could hear was snow falling from the pine trees. Absolute silence….a sound new moms crave.

As I walked, I began singing Nicole Nordemann’s “Seasons,” and was carried away by the magic of the moment. I began to cry at one point, because it was so beautiful and so good for my soul.

I was just so thankful for that time. I was able to walk in silence, uninterrupted by cars or traffic or children playing, and just think. And the beauty…..I always forget how beautiful snow is. Winter here usually looks much like the other seasons, minus some of the green. Never white. Never radiant.

Everything looked different. I found myself wondering aloud how God can make something so ordinary, so mundane, appear so beautiful and spotless. As I thought that, I found myself thinking how the same could be said about me. Nothing special by myself….but made exquisite by His hand.

I’m still thanking God for His gift of my Saturday morning. I’ll be floating on that high for a little while.