Dreaded Mondays

I always dread Mondays. I am not sure why. I guess because it is a sign the weekend is over. I find it hard to get motivated on Mondays. Then the crazy thing is that once Monday is over the rest of the week speeds by and the next thing I know it is Friday.

But a couple of postive things happened on this Monday. I rode 6 miles on the stationary bike instead of my usual 5. And then I walked the entire store at Albertson's and did my grocery shopping. $260.00 later, I was on my way home. I know this may not seem like a big deal to anyone else, but for me it is a continual sign of progress. I don't know what the difference in a day is, yesterday I went to a craft show in Plano. It was all carpeted, yet I was in so much pain the entire time I found it very hard to walk. Then today at the store (no carpet) and I did pretty well and was not even wearing my ankle brace.

In my Bible reading today it was on Saul and David and I had to wrestle with how God sends an evil spirit to someone? I don't have a problem understanding that we can all be tempted by Satan, but it just does not line up with God's character that he would send an evil spirit to inhabit someone and then why was it the evil spirit would leave when David played the harp? I realize that Saul disappointed God and He wished He had never made Saul king. I assume Saul could have repented, instead he just became more and more evil. Anyway...no earth shattering thoughts today. But thanks for reading anyway, hope you had a good Monday.

High School Musical

Well God was good again and American Airlines center could not have gone better. First of all we got the first row of handicap parking. Walked in the door and our section of seating was right in front of us!! Then there are rails going up and down the stairs there so that made it easy and there was good leg room so my leg did not cramp up. So all in all, a success!

Then there was the production. I thought it was okay. Most of the skaters were just amateurs so they did not wow you with their skating, but it was choreographed fun. I think Kayla and Logan were a little disappointed that the real cast was not on skates. They just mimed the words so that seemed a little hokey as well, but hey... What amazed me the most was all the paraphernalia for sale. And better yet all the people buying it for their kids!!!! I cannot imagine after paying $30.00 a ticket to get in that parents would spend $20.00 on a program, $12.00 on Cotton Candy (that came with a hat), $20.00 for a bear,$15.00 for light up glasses, $8.00 for a snowcone in a cup, etc.) Then at intermission Pizza, popcorn, hotdogs, nachos, etc. Just amazing to me!!

What has made this musical so popular with the kids?? I am not sure I get that either. I guess it is the "G" rated version of "Grease" for this generation. Wonder how many more they will make?

It Really Is Friday

So thank you for all of you who read my blog and did not point out to me that my post yesterday entitled "Friday Woes" was mis titled because yesterday was actually Thursday!

Today was not a whole lot better. The plumber came and looked at the washing machine. Fully loaded and emptied it three times and nothing happened. Doesn't charge us for the visit, but really doesn't have any advice for me either. I then proceed to wash the wet rugs from yesterday and then there it is water all over the floor again??? Not to mention the rug that I put in the washing machine had a rubber backing that decided to crumble everywhere. Took me about an hour to clean out the washing machine. So now I have a Magtag service person coming to see if there is something wrong with the machine itself.

Still without my computer today. Perhaps this was God's way of showing me that I spend way too much time on the computer. I wish I could say I have been doing something productive with all the spare time, but mostly I have just been working word puzzles. I have such a pile of books I need to be reading and just have not.

Tomorrow morning I am taking a couple of kids to see High School Musical on ice. I was suppose to take my new "special friends" but they had already seen it, so I am taking Kayla and Logan Strother. It should be fun! I am just anxious about how I will navigate the American Airline Center. Hopefully, I will do okay.

Thursday Woes

Today started out okay. A sweet friend from church Terri Fullerton was so kind to come over and clean out all the leaves from my flowerbeds. She had heard me talking a few weeks ago about how I used to keep my yard pretty nice but the past few years I have not been able to work in the flowerbeds. My mom came over and helped as well and it looks so much nicer out front. Tomorrow we will go and buy some wood chips and finish up the job.

Then I was so excited because my new computer finally arrived! Well, I guess they don't make the model I had anymore (it was 3 years old) and replaced it with a different model and wouldn't you know the hard drives are not compatible!! So while I am back on it and have loaded a few programs I have no access to any of my old files. Brian Vaughn is going to come over tomorrow and get it and see if he can recover the files from my old hard drive. That would make me so happy and the lesson learned? Back Up!!!!!!

In the meantime I was doing wash and went in to put the 2nd load in the dryer and found water everywhere!! We had a plumber out a few weeks ago to work on the plumbing as water was leaking into the garage when we did laundry. But this time it was in the garage and in the laundry room and in the pantry. Yes, it was fun moving the washing machine out and cleaning up all the water. When is the last time you looked behind your washing machine?? It was so yucky, and all that lint being wet did not make for an easy clean up. So the plumber is on call coming out tomorrow.

Don't you just hate technical difficulties? Nothing ruins a day more than these unexpected events. But...once again in the midst of all of it, all I could do was thank God that I was able to take care of it myself. A year ago I would not have been able to do that. So while it wiped me out, I did survive. Have to admit though I was thankful Steve was willing to stop and pick up some chicken for dinner because I didn't know how I was going to have the energy to cook something. So come on Friday...let's see what you will hold.

Talon is One

In the past I have posted some pictures of my great nephew Talon, and wanted to share with you all his One Year Old picture. I know I am prejudiced, but I think he is just adorable.

I know all of you who are parents know that they grow up so quickly!

Hope you are having a very blessed Wednesday.

Thoughts On Bible Readings

The past few days my Bible readings have been in Joshua and Judges. While in Joshua it was renewed to me how quickly the Israelites would forget all about what God had done for them and return to worshiping idols. Even though he had told them to teach their children daily and remind them as they got up, walked through the day, lied down, and even when at the Jordan River they had built an altar so that when their children asked they could remind them of what God had done, in Judges 2:10 it says "That whole generation also died, and the next generation forgot the Lord and what he had done for Israel." That was amazing to me. Could that also happen to our children? What will they remember about the Lord after we pass?

Then how many times does God extend compassion before he gives up? Over and over the Israelites would forget Him and marry pagans and worship their idols. How do you give up the real thing for an idol? What can an idol do for you? Yet they did, and he would allow them to be captured and oppressed and then they would cry out and He would hear their cry and rescue them only for them to turn around and forget Him again. It seems so difficult to understand, and yet I do because it is so typical of me to do the same thing. I forget the marvelous things the Lord has done for me and fall back into my patterns of not spending time with Him and returning to my idol which in my life is television. As to my original question how long before he gives up? I don't know the time limit but according to Romans 1:28 He does give up " And so, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of Him or consider Him worth the knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned mind to do things not proper or decent but loathsome."

My last thought is why in the world was Samson so dumb? Three times he found out that he could not trust Delilah, so why then would he tell her the truth on the fourth time? It is an example of how powerful love with an unbeliever can be and testifies to the importance of making sure we have a partner who shares our faith in God. As I have gotten older I have seen the importance of especially stressing this to our children more than we have in the past. Since it all begins with dating, perhaps it is important to set those standards even then. I know there is a possibility that while dating a non-Christian that there is a possibility you could convert them, but have we not also seen examples of where people walk away because of the pull of their non-believing spouse? Is it really the tight rope that any of us want to watch our children walk?
Over and over again God warned His children not to enter into mixed marriages with the pagans and over and over again they did anyway and lost His blessing. 2 Corinthians 6:14 "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers [do not make mismated alliances with them or come under a different yoke with them, inconsistent with your faith]. For what partnership have right living and right standing with God with iniquity and lawlessness? Or how can light have fellowship with darkness?" (Amplified Version)

Anyway...these readings have once again convicted my heart of the importance we all have of teaching our children the importance of loving God with All their heart, mind, soul and strength and the ONLY way we can do that is through example. May the Lord bless us all as we attempt to do just that.

Resurrection Celebration

Even though it was a little chilly today, at least we did not get the rain! Hope everyone had a great resurrection celebration. Steve and I were blessed by the service at Highland Oaks. I personally was blessed by watching an elderly lady (75-85 ish) worshiping as she had the most beautiful expressions on her face. I had to go visit with her afterwards and just tell her how her spirit of worship had blessed me. The other thing I enjoy when I visit Highland Oaks is their deaf interpreters. I have often wished that I could take classes. Guess there is no reason why I can't, just have to want to dedicate the time bad enough. I especially enjoy watching them sign songs. Always interesting to contemplate who invents such things.

This morning as I was getting dressed I heard "In Christ Alone" and it just really helped me to focus my thoughts for the day. Hope it will bless you as well.

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
'Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost it's grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Brought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

Grieving

Ever since I retired from ministry I have had days of grieving. There are so many things about being in full time ministry that I miss. I still feel like God was calling me to step down, but I still struggle with what I am suppose to be doing now. This weekend I went out to the Anatole for LTC. For 15 years I have participated in LTC and I volunteered to be a judge this year. Each church has to submit so many judges per events you enter. In years past it was somewhat challenging to fill those judging spaces and so I thought I would volunteer. I judged two different hours of chorus. It still was hard though just attending and knowing that I had not helped any of the kids prepare this year. The room where everyone was staying was a difficult walk for me, so I chose to stay downstairs, missing out on the fellowship. It was the end of an era for me. And I just found myself grieving. That is okay, it is important to grieve in order to move on and now I can do that with one more area.

An observation in judging chorus. Why is it that boys do not like to sing? Every chorus the girls outnumbered the boys almost 3 to 1? Isn't it just important for our boys to know that God loves to hear them sing? Why is it that singing for them is tied to their masculinity. However, I have to admit there were a few 11-12th grade groups where the boys were just awesome. I was so proud of the R.E. kids because for the first time in several years there were a bunch of boys singing. About 3/4 of them were Jr. High boys, so maybe that means they will keep on and by the time they are 11 and 12th graders they will have shown other boys that it is really a great thing to just sing praises before the Lord.

Hope everyone has a great resurrection celebration tomorrow. Steve and I are going to be guests at Highland Oaks in the morning. We considered going to another fellowship tomorrow, but we just did not want to go somewhere where we wouldn't have communion on Easter of all Sundays. I am just so very thankful that we serve a risen Savior!!!

Faithful Friend

I don't know when I first found food to be my faithful friend? It was at a young age though because I lost 50 pounds my senior year in high school because I was overweight. Over the years food and I have had our ups and downs. Most days I know it is really not my friend, but on days like today for some reason it is the first thing I reach for. The difference? Today I really didn't find comfort in food as I wanted, I just found guilt for trying to find comfort there. It really isn't important that I share all the reasons I needed a friend today...I am just not sure why I couldn't reach out to a flesh and blood friend instead of a pizza? Or better yet why I couldn't just find comfort with the Lord? Of course now I am letting my self be attacked by my faithful accuser who convinces me that I am a loser (not of weight though). I know, I know I am telling him that "he that is within me is greater" and I am trying to believe it. Steve will be home tomorrow and I know that will help because my very bestest friend will be back in place and he is such a good listener and just keeps loving me through all the junk. I am thankful that he reflects God to me, because He is a great listener too and yes,He keeps loving me through all the junk as well. Thank you God.

Hope you all have had a "Good Friday" and will have a great day preparing for your day of Resurrection celebration. Thanks for being my listeners tonight.

Wednesday Ramblings

FYI I paid $3.08 today for gas at Racetrak on Independence Pkwy. and Plano Parkway today. Just thought I would pass that on for anyone else looking for a better deal on gas.

Wow! did we get the rain or what?? Looks like we got about 6 inches at my house. I thought my swimming pool was going to flood my house, but fortunately it never did come up over the edge.

I heard something this morning that was an "aha" for me. The speaker was talking about the last days of Jesus and was talking about Barrabas. He said "no one understood better than Barrabas what it meant for someone to take his place and get what he deserved." I had never thought about that before. Barrabas was chosen because he was the Suddan Hussein, Charles Mason, Adolf Hitler of his time and Herod was so sure the people would not choose him over Jesus and he could set Jesus free because he knew he was not guilty. However, the crowd did not go with the plan. Imagine how shocked Barrabas must have been. He knew he was guilty and someone else was going to pay and he was going free. It was just slightly a different slant than I had ever thought about before. I do think we can gain great insights when we try to put ourselves in the shoes of the different characters in the Bible. I had just never put myself in his shoes before. However, I have contemplated over and over again why Jesus would take my place and am still dumbfounded every time I think of it. I definitely don't deserve it, but for ever will be so thankful for that gift.

Hope you are having a contemplative week filled with thanksgiving as you prepare for the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior.

Answered Prayers

Thank you so much for those who posted and let me know they were praying for Steve and his mom, I cannot tell you how much it means to know that others are covering you in prayer and the strength that comes from that. Mary Jane was able to be released from the hospital early last night. Got a message from Steve this morning and she had a good evening at home. They were up by 4:15 a.m. this morning (her regular arise time) to take the dog out for the morning.

My specific prayer now is that God just protect Steve from sickness as he just sounds so very tired. He spent both nights at the hospital all night with his mom. Hopefully they can take some catnaps together throughout the day. She is a strong willed person and does not accept assistance from anyone very easily, so I am sure Steve will be exhausted just in his efforts to get her to slow down. The blessing is that at least she is still here for him to tend to.

I think the plan is for him to stay until Saturday and if she is doing okay to return home that afternoon. I miss him, but especially on a day like today when the weather is so nasty I miss him even more.

Thanks again for your prayers and concern.

Another Prayer Request

We would really appreciate your prayers for Steve's mom. We thought she was doing okay after the wreck but early this morning she passed out. Steve's brother could not get a pulse and she was not breathing, but finally got her to breathe and the paramedics got her to the hospital. Her oxygen levels are extremely low but they have not determined the cause as of yet. Steve was able to get a flight out and was in Omaha by 3:00 p.m.

Please pray for Mary Jane's healing and that Steve is able to be a blessing and comfort to her and to his brother who is her primary caretaker. Steve had been in bed sick for 2 days himself, so pray that the Lord will just give him the strength he needs to minister to his mom and brother.

Thanks so much!!!

Praise God With Us

Tonight I had my aunt and uncle from El Paso and my mom and dad over for dinner. Steve came home sick from work today so he was not able to join us. The phone rang while we were eating and I did not recognize the number so did not answer, but it rang again with the same number so I picked up and it was my brother in law calling to tell us that Steve's mother had been in a car accident and was at the hospital. She is 84 and evidently there was some road construction she could not see around and she pulled out and was broadsided. Fortunately it was on the passenger side. By the Steve got hold of his other brother (who lives in Omaha with his mom), they were releasing his mom from the hospital and Steve was able to speak with her for a moment. Fortunately, she had no serious injuries. So please say a prayer of praise to God for that. Needless to say it was a very tense moment for us as I had to wake Steve out of a deep sleep to give him the phone and tell him the news and that brought back significant memories for him of almost 3 years ago when my mom had to awaken him out of sleep to tell him about me.

I was brave tonight and tried a new recipe (which I don't usually do with company for fear that it will not be good). I made stuffed pork chops with cranberry chutney. When I went to the store of course I could not find even frozen cranberries so I used a mixed berry mixture with some dried cranberries and it still turned out very good. A few months ago Brooke Cole fixed this awesome asparagus for a CAREcorp dinner and I have been trying to emulate it ever since. Tonight was my third try and it was close. Each time I am broiling it too long. But tonight was close and it still tasted really yummy. This was a big deal for me because it was my first time to cook a meal, use a recipe, set the table, etc. all by myself since my accident. Yes my feet were absolutely killing me afterwards, but it felt like another milestone just to be able to do it.
So another praise to God!

Update on the computer. Called Dell who put me on hold for 12 minutes before I talked to a technician that I could not understand as he was Indian, the second guy was also Indian but I could understand him some better who had me totally disassemble the computer (taking out the hard drive, the memory chip, and something else I can't remember) Actually I had to wake Steve up because I had no idea how to get the screws undone. Come to find out Steve had a special set of screwdrivers in his office for computers. What did the guy think I was suppose to use? Then after 30 minutes of taking everything apart, nothing worked anyway and so they are sending me a box to send my computer in. Another praise is it is under warranty until June 16th. So while I will be inconvenienced by not having it for 5-7 days, at least it should not cost us anything for the repairs.

Electronic Blahs

Well, don't know what happened but my laptop died tonight. I took it to church to show the ladies retreat committee some pictures we had taken of the retreat center and shortly after coming off it just turned off and would not turn back on. Couldn't be the battery is dead as I had just unplugged it at home and it should have had 3 hours of time. Came home and plugged it back in and nothing, just a totally dark screen. Aaargh. I just hate computer problems. It is so convenient for me to just put my feet up in my chair and spend time on the computer. So thankfully we have the main computer in Steve's office, so came in here and had to try to remember passwords. I hate it when not all the sites take the same amount of letters so I have like 4 possible passwords. Then it asked me for my security answer which for some strange reason was not my mother's maiden name (like all others) but what is my favorite movie???? Do you think I could remember what I said my favorite movie was?? After typing in several, I guess I finally got the right one when I didn't capitalize any of the letters. Sure hope it is an easy fix?

Today was my father's birthday. He is 84 years old. We are so thankful that God has allowed him to see another birthday as when he took himself off dialysis in January 2007 we were prepared to say goodbye fairly soon. He had been doing pretty well for a couple of months but in the past three days had taken a turn for the worse and did not feel like getting out of the house to celebrate his birthday. My aunt and uncle (my mom's brother and sister) are here visiting from El Paso, so my mom cooked him a meal and we just ate at their house. At least he felt well enough to sit at the table with us for a little while. It is really hard to watch my father be so discouraged at his quality of life. He really wants to just go be with the Lord and is growing more discouraged that it is not his time. We try to get him to focus on the positive that he is of sound mind and not in any pain. He is not suffering, just very weak from inactivity. But the past few days he has been having some significant abdominal pain. So of course none of us knows what the future holds, but I pray for his remaining days, months or years that he will not have to suffer. I am so thankful for the Buckingham Road church of Christ who has not forgotten him in the year he has not been able to attend. Someone usually comes to visit him at least once a week. Once or twice a month someone brings them a meal. It is such a blessing for my mom and dad. I was going to post a picture of him with his cake but my camera went funky today too! Guess it was just an electronically challenging day. Which results in major frustration in my world.

Opinions Please

Tonight I realized the song that I had playing when you opened my blog page was "O Come, O Come Emanuel" which is usually associated more with Christmas. So as I went to change the song I was trying to decide which song to choose. So this is my question. When you are reading a blog would you rather listen to a song with words or without words? I started thinking that perhaps songs with words might distract from reading? I realize that you can turn off your sound and not listen to the song at all, but just for future reference I thought I would just take a poll and see who likes which best. So which is it with or without words?

Silent Retreat

On April 11th some ladies at R.E. are going to be enjoying a Silent Retreat at Riverbend Camp in Glen Rose. It is interesting the different reactions I received this morning in trying to get ladies to sign up for the retreat. Why is it the concept of having quiet meditation time so intimidating to so many? The last Silent Retreat we had was wonderful and for me it was so refreshing to just have this slow pace and be able to sit out in nature and have some really special time with God. It is interesting to think about that some cannot even entertain the thought of a three hour periods of silence when there are actually people in this world who take a vow of silence.

Friday, two other ladies and I drove down to where we are going to have the retreat because we had not seen it. It is really nice. I am posting some pictures just in case I can entice some of my blog readers to join us. Two years ago when we did this retreat all 26 evaluations came back that women were pleasantly surprised what a blessing the quiet time had been. Sometimes I think we are just afraid to experience the unknown. So I guarantee anyone that joins us will not be disappointed.

Walkway up to Lodge

Back Porch of Lodge

Kitchen area

Main room


Two of the 4 bedrooms downstairs (all are decorated differently.)

Should I or Shouldn't I?

Today I got an email from do_not_reply@kidzmatter.com which started out with this article from their president Ryan Frank.

"Today my wife called one of her friends to tell her that she had missed her at church the past two weeks. The family had been fighting the flu. That is, everyone but 7-year-old Chesney. She missed church because everyone else was sick. She told her mom, "My teachers are going to miss me! Maybe not though, they haven't called me!"

As soon as I heard this, I picked up the phone and called Chesney! Although she was too shy to talk to me, she knew that I have missed her. This was a subtle reminder to me about the importance of letting my kids know when I miss them. How are you doing in this area? Hey, even kids need a shot in the arm now and then."

The reason this was interesting to me is I just had a parent tell me last week to stop sending cards telling their child I was missing them on Sunday because they had made a family decision not to come to Bible class. Of course I wasn't sending the cards to offend anyone, I really thought the child would be like the one above and want to know they were being missed. And I actually did miss them! Guess you never know? So all you can do is say you're sorry and hope the next family that gets the card will not feel the same way. On any given Sunday we have 10 kids missing in class and you don't always know the reason. Last week one of the girls was out with pneumonia. So this email encouraged me not to be discouraged about this parent's reaction, I will assume they are the exception and not the rule.

A Thankful Wife

I apologize for another post in one week extolling the praises of my husband but I just can't resist. Tonight Steve told me that while he was at CVS today that he got out of the car and saw a pile of trash on the ground and could not help but notice that it was a pornographic magazine. He said he did his best not to look at it, but did not want to leave it there for a young person to see, so he bent down and and crumpled it up and threw it in the trash can. I thanked him for the blessing of being married to a man of integrity. He could have put that magazine in his truck and kept it there for weeks and I would have never known.

Sunday morning I listened to Ed Young Jr. give a really good sermon on Lust. Don't know that in my lifetime I have ever heard an entire sermon dedicated to lust. Of course he preached it in his normal creative way by his points all ending in "ize" for "eyes". You can actually view that sermon at http://www.edyoung.com/watch.php

He quoted Job 31:1 "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl." He talked about his own covenant and how he does not subscribe to movie channels for that very reason and he does not channel surf. I had thought at the time how many times I have seen Steve's eyes go to the floor when an advertisement came on T.V. where women were scantily clad. Or when I have on Dancing With The Stars and he will not look at the skimpily clothed dancers.

When he reads this blog he will be quick to remind me that he is not perfect, and I know that he cannot live in the world we live in and not be tempted from time to time, but I am thankful that he does not succumb to the temptations around him and honors me with his commitment to purity. I am indeed blessed!!

Pray It Anyway

I ,may have mentioned it in the past but Steve and I subscribe to a magazine entitled "Pray". Over the years it has had many articles that have enhanced my prayer life. The March/April issue is entitled "Cries from the Wilderness: Praying When Life Hurts". There were so many good articles. I just thought I would give you some of the quotes that caught my attention.

"I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me. I will call on him as long as I live." Psalm 116:1-2

"I went through times when it was difficult to pray because I didn't dare to be honest with God. I was hurt, angry scared, and confused. Anything I might have said to him wouldn't have sounded at all like the pretty and polite prayers I was used to hearing in church. It was then that another friend pointed me to the psalms. She observed that the psalmists were gut-honest about how they felt and that God seemed capable of handling their negative feelings. So in that season, I learned to lament." --Cynthia Bezek

"Suffering either makes you better or it makes you bitter."
"Anyone who is called to intercession is called to participate in both the joy and the pain of God."
"The fact that we are struggling is actually the mark of a vibrant faith, not unbelief."
"When we suffer the enemy tempts us to embrace isolation--to draw up the drawbridge. But these are the very times when we need people more than ever."
"We need to be careful not to confuse the silence of God with the absence of God."--Peter Greig

"Those who wrote many of the psalms didn't pray in a protected environment. In fact, their circumstances were often much more exhausting than mine. But somehow they managed to turn their eyes from the visible situation to the invisible God."
"Praise is a determined resolution."
"Prayer honors God most when it's worshipful in the absence of visible reasons to worship. That type of prayer declares who He is when the declartion isn't self evident. It's a defiant statement that no matter how much the world, the flesh, or the devil obscure His goodness, He's still good."
--Chris Tiegreen

"Because hurting people need the freedom and courage to be honest in expressing their difficulties, we, too, need to be authentic with every word we offer in prayer. For me this often begins by admitting my own inadequacy. For example, I may pray, "Lord, I don't have a clue how to begin..." or, "Father, You're the only one who knows what the real need is here..." or, "Jesus, to be perfectly honest, this whole thing stinks..."
"When we prya real prayers from our heart those who suffer breathe a sigh of relief, thankful that they don't have to hide their hurt from us or God."--Tricia McCary Rhodes

Only In America

Today I was shopping at Albertson's when some girls asked if I wanted to buy some girl scout cookies. I quickly told them I had already bought some from the girls at my church. Then I was ashamed that I felt so uncomfortable with these girls and their moms. You see they were dressed in black and wearing hijabs.

I am not sure why it made me feel uncomfortable it just did. It just seemed strange to me that they were girl scouts. I felt guilty so I pulled my car up and asked them if they were participating in the send cookies to soldiers program. They said "no" but they were giving boxes to a nursing home, so I gave them some money and drove away. Then I thought "oh my goodness, was it the wrong thing to ask them if they were sending cookies to soldiers?" Oh well, hopefully God will honor my attempt to look past my uncomfortableness and try to do something positive.

On another note. If you haven't already seen this video on Youtube, you have to check it out. 5 girls from the ages of 8-13 from Lubbock singing the National Anthem. They are amazing! I have taught 3rd to 6th grade chorus for about 15 years and have never heard kids that age be able to harmonize so well! Cactus Cuties indeed!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKCVS57j284