Carnival of Beauty
Topic: Carnival entries
Sallie, at:

has the Carnival of Beauty back up and running.

This week's hostess is Iris. Please go to her blog, Sting My Heart, to see all the Carnival entries on the Beauty of Philippians. (my entry is the post below)

Practicing peace
Topic: Carnival entries




Early on in life, I chose a 'life verse'. This was prompted by a college Bible study group I was in....all of us so young and most so new at independence and at deciding how we would live this life as a Christian. We were fervent but lacked life experiences and depth. So when I chose Philippians 4:6-7, I had no idea how it was going to impact me and how it would eventually save my life as I clung to God's promise in those verses.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)

I chose the verses because I had a tendency toward worrying and anxiety. In my inexperience, I had a very shallow idea of the Christian walk and the 'peace that transcends all understanding'. It was a selfish kind of peace that I desired....one that made me feel good, calm and secure. I memorized it. I would repeat it to myself on many occassions: when I was alone at night, when I was anxious over an upcoming test or event, and when I was thinking of the future. Let me just add here that God honored my shallow thinking. I had no idea the depths and nuances that His peace included, but I was wholeheartedly following Him and trying to live according to what Scripture said. So He did bless me as I learned to give my worries over to Him and asked Him for peace in my life. I thought it was a pretty good deal!

It wasn't until I was in my 30's and went through two mid-pregnancy miscarriages that I really had to cling to those verses for dear life. The depression, anger, guilt and grief that came into my life was more than I could bear alone. God was adding depth to my life.....and that is hard....not the good deal I had remembered from my early adult years when life was always pretty mild and calm. This was down in the trenches praying and crying out. I was desperate for Him. There is a worship song that always brings the tears of remembrance back when I sing it. (I think it is written by Michael W. Smith)

This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me

This is my daily bread
This is my daily bread
Your very word spoken to me

And I I'm desperate for you
And I I'm I'm lost without you

That is how my prayers sounded at that time, although this song wasn't written then. Just small cries for God....help, I'm desperate, speak...and in the middle of crisis, I found God at a level that was more huge than I'd ever experienced. He surrounded me, carried me through that cloudy time and created a deeper love, a greater sympathy for people who suffer, an understanding of grief and depression.

And when I emerged from that....and it took quite a while....God showed me the next few verses in that passage.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9

I had seen those verses before, but never put them together with God's promise about laying down anxiety and receiving peace. When I wanted to revert back into that depression and grief, I was always reminded to go back to those following verses about replacing the anxiety with good things in your head. 'Put it into practice,' it says.

Practice, practice, practice....it's not natural, it takes a lot of practice, but it does work.....

It's a promise!

Giving up control...
Topic: Carnival entries




C. S. Lewis said, "There are two kinds of people:
those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,'
and those to whom God says,
'All right, then, have it your way.'"

"Thy will be done."

When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He told them to have that attitude. Today we knock it out as one of our vain repetitions. We don't really think about or mean what we're saying. Would we really be praying that if we were obligated to mean it?

Give up control?

By assuming control, we are actually running out of control....God's control. I have seen it so many times in my own life. When I take the wheel and point it where I want to go, using human wisdom and knowledge, I throw God's compass out the window, disregarding God's wisdom and knowledge.

Ouch!

When my children were preschoolers, they each went through a stage that was very frustrating. It was the "I'll do it myself!" stage. Some of my 4 children went through that stage several times. It seems to take some longer to figure out that they need help, or as they get older, advice and direction. As parents, we get frustrated and anxious for them. We know they would be better off if they would listen to us, but some lessons are learned the hard way.
When children are babies, we expect them to go through that stage.

I was talking with one of my teenagers tonight, remembering times she or her sisters tried to do things themselves and made a huge mess for me. We got to laughing so hard about it, but at the time it happened, it was catastrophic to me! Once my youngest, Maggie, was playing after dinner. She sounded happy, so I continued to visit with my friend who was over for dinner. We were enjoying some nice after dinner talking, when my friend glanced into the kitchen. She looked horrified and amused at the same time. (Just TRY to duplicate a look like that…it’s impossible! It has to be spontaneous.) She just said, “Oh….Christie….look!” I didn’t want to, but my curiousity made me look. Maggie had pulled the honey pot down from the counter and was painting our very fuzzy, long haired poodle with it! She had wanted to try to use that wooden swirly honey dripping stick all evening at dinner and I wouldn’t let her do it by herself. We were horrified….we cleaned the dog and the baby at the same time in different tubs. Then we tackled the kitchen floor.

Another time, a different daughter (I won’t mention names, because after all, she was only 2) had been fiddling with her diaper all day. Being a natural escape artist from things like car seats, high chairs and cribs, she had now begun trying to find her way out of her diaper. So I used wide tape to hold the diaper on, then I put her in a one piece blanket sleeper and put her to bed for a nap. By the time I noticed the terrible, horrible, very bad smell coming down the hall, into the living room, it was WAY too late. Upon entering her room, I about gagged as she had painted very quietly for an extended time…I know this because it was EVERYWHERE! I spent hours cleaning first her, then her crib, toys, walls and carpet!

OK, no more stories. But the point is, that when we are babies, we try to do things for ourselves. Our parents are patient (or at least try!) with us and clean up our messes and we learn from it. But when we are older and can clean the poop from the crib railings or the honey from the dog, we are expected to fix the mess ourselves. A wise parent will insist on this. We let go and say, “All right then, have it your way. But you will be responsible for the consequences.” And we let them deal with it. A parent who bails a child out of every situation they get themselves into, using unwise judgment, only leads to very tall, very spoiled babies who look, on the outside, like adults.

God is the wisest of Fathers. He carries us, makes allowances for us even, when we are young in faith or in age. But if we don’t learn from it and grow, we may look like mature Christians, but we are really just very tall, very spoiled baby Christians. (Like the ones addressed in Hebrews 5:11-14.)

Silly how we think preschoolers are foolish to have to learn a lesson over and over again, when really, we haven't learned certain things very well ourselves. I wonder if God looks upon us as we do our children, shaking of the head, rolling eyes, sighing....or would He more likely respond with tears in His eyes as we willfully bypass His plans and purposes for our lives. The stakes are a little higher nowadays than they when we were young. God's will in almost every situation is to draw people to Himself, using us as His hands and feet. I wonder how many times I have stubbornly chosen my own will, only to have missed an opportunity to show someone Jesus.

Yikes...

Oh, God, please don't give up on me. I can be so stubborn, thinking the control I keep in certain areas of my life is harmless. Please do NOT let me do it my own way. I only want Your way....to know Your blessing, Your favor and Your will.

Thy will be done.

I'm thrifty! I'm grilling! I'm happy!
Topic: People/Family stories
I took my 2 teens shopping yesterday at a large thrift store here. They needed some clothes for starting high school in a few weeks, and I decided we could get more if we began at a thrift store.

I was right!

We found jeans, capris, t-shirts, and shorts. I even found a pair of Old Navy jeans, kaki capris and jean shorts for me. *yes*

My first stop upon entering the thrift store though, was the furniture/appliance section. Thinking I might find a cheap bread machine for my college daughter, instead my eyes found something I've been wanting for a few years now: a large George Foreman grill! Ten bucks...and I'm doing the happy thrift store shopper dance!

I had another shopper eyeing my grill and he even made a comment on what a find I had found...saying he had been looking for one of those. That is when I ducked behind a rack of clothes and hid my grill beneath my Old Navy jeans. And I made my girls keep their eye on my cart while I tried on some clothes too. I felt like those seagulls on Finding Nemo. "Mine....mine...mine, mine, mine." I just hope it works well after all this bragging...heh.

It didn't come with an instruction/recipe book or a drip tray, but I think I can manage. Any tips on cooking or recipes for the grill would be much appreciated!

Now I won't have to fire up the grill every time we want grilled chicken or burgers! Or brats, a panini, grilled veggies, garlic toast, steaks, fajitas.....wheeee! =)

Tea and scones
Topic: People/Family stories
We've had a busy week here, with 2 of my aunts visiting from Washington and Oregon. They are my mom's sisters and have been trying to get together every few years. They went to Hawaii several years ago and had a great time. This time the aunts came to Phoenix.....and there were many preparations, celebrations and events! So I haven't had time to blog. Yesterday, all the girls of the families went to tea. We met at a fancy tea house and had quiche or chicken salads in cucumber boats, tiny, fancy cookies and bread puddings, and an assortment of teas...iced and hot....and we tried it all I think. There were 11 of us, sampling and cackling the early afternoon away. Here are a few photos:

Choosing a tea cup

Maggie loved the heart shaped savory scones

Cousins and aunt

The sisters

My sisters

Lots of mugging for photos

I never did get any pictures of me, I guess.

After the dainty tea, we went shopping, visited at my sister's, and absolutely pigged out on Mexican food at her house that evening. Then we saw slides of their Alaskan trip!

This afternoon is registering for high school in the big city day, then church.

The crippled car for Bethany is now in Flagstaff and we will drive up to get it on Thursday.

UPDATE: A friend of ours passed away this morning in Williams after a long battle with cancer, so we'll be going up on Saturday for the funeral and getting the car....and maybe an afternoon wedding if we can make it.

Home coming
Topic: People/Family stories
Today began at 6:45am. Our friend the tree trimmer came by to trim up our tall, skinny palm trees in the back. When he was done, his assistant came in the house, asking for the kids to come out and help, quick! When they went out, Dave was hanging upside down on the rope anchored at the top of the tree. If he hadn't had a huge grin on his face, it may have scared us! lol Some of the neighbors were popping their heads over the fences to watch, laughing.

After a shower, Hannah (who is home for the weekend...yay!) and I went to the airport to pick up Bethany...who is home from her mission trip to Mississippi! Yay!! She was tired, dirty, sunburned and grouchy! But we claimed her and brought her home. They had gone to the airport last night at 2am to wait for their early departing flight, so they were all sooo tired. I'm sure the stories will start to flow by tomorrow. Thank you to Lanell, who lives an hour from the mission trip sight, who was ready to jump at a moment's notice in case Bethany needed anything. I'll tell you more about the trip another day....Bethany is unconscious on her bed presently.

My poor husband called last night. (he flew out Wed. to Oklahoma, where he was picking up a free car from his brother to bring to Bethany...yay!) But by Albequerque, the coolant needed replacing and then 5 miles later, replacing again, then it wouldn't start at all......yikes! After brainstorming, he called a friend from our former town, who has a brother in Albequerque. The brother was out of town, but he called another friend, who came to where Charles was, had his Triple A town the car to his own home, put Charles up for the night, fed him breakfast, helped him examine the car, then took him to a car rental place in the morning. He is almost home. I have to go meet him at the car rental return at the airport in about half an hour and bring the poor, tired preacher home! Our friend in our former town offered to drive out to Albequerque next week and bring the car home on his flatbed truck.

Life is a fiasco sometimes, but isn't it a blessed thing to have so many connections to so many other Christian people around the world!?

Thank you Lord for watching over my family as they were scattered about and serving You.....

Throwing stones is not nice....
Topic: People/Family stories
This looks like a typical Xray of my abdomen (minus the red arrow). A year after the birth of my first child, I began my journey with rolling stones. No, not the rock band, eww!!!....with kidney stones. Being very suseptible to kidney stones, every time I get dehydrated, I can expect to have a little tango with them. I have had 3 lithotripsy procedures in the past 18 years, about one every 5 years due to stones that were aggrivating and too large to pass. I am determined not to have to go through that again, as my right kidney is withered slightly and the doctor thinks it is from the lithotripsies. (Don't you feel sorry for me? I do! lol)

All this to say, I've been out of commission for a few days while my kidney decided to throw a stone. I even saved it. It's a big one (a little bigger than in this pic), but not the biggest I've had. I was going to take a picture of it, but when I showed it to Emma, she just about hurled, so I didn't take a picture of my own stone. I just looked for a picture online to show what it looks like. It's about the size of a pebble of aquarium gravel. OK, I know you're curious, so I'll tell you the biggest one yet, that I have passed on my own, looked like a watermelon seed. I know....ouch! With that one, I was about ready to rip the decrepit thing (meaning my kidney) out of my own body by hand if it had been possible. Usually, for me, they are not that painful....it just puts me in bed, lying on a heating pad, gulping water and ibuprofen.

People always look at me and say "Don't they have a medicine to prevent those???" Believe me, I've delved into it. So far the best medicine is gallons and gallons of water every week! Since I live in Phoenix, we hear a lot about dehydration. I was watching a news report about it a few weeks ago and the report said that at the first sign of thirst we feel or when our mouth or throats feel dry, we have let it go too far. It's very hard to drink the amount of water I need to keep stones from forming in this climate, but I am trying!

16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 1 Corinthians 4:16-17

....and that you can count on.

A good dusting
Topic: People/Family stories
We just had a summer dust storm blow through, so I grabbed these pictures off of a local tv weather channel to show you.

Out in the desert, the wind kicks up, gathering dust and momentum as it goes and comes over the city of Phoenix like a wall of dust. If you are out in it, you have to take cover or get crusted in dust and it stings! If you're in your car, you usually have to slow to a halt and wait until you can see again to drive. And if the rain comes behind the dust, it makes a muddy mess on your car! Thankfully, dust storms only last about 10-15 minutes as they pass through.

During the last one we had, our neighbor told us he found our table umbrella in his pool. He tossed it back over the fence for us though......and so goes life in the desert.

Being content
Topic: Other
...Contentment

America is a hard place to be content...I'm rolling it around in my mind. Here are some other people's thoughts....as well as some from the Creator...

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth. Henry David Thoreau

You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
Steven Wright

What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?
Henry David Thoreau

The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

To sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.
Jane Austen

Ecclesiastes 4:8
There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. "For whom am I toiling," he asked, "and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?" This too is meaningless? a miserable business!

Proverbs 19:23
The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.

Philippians 4:11-13
11I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

1 Timothy 6:6
6But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.

Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

So simple, yet so.....elusive...

VBS 2006 pictures!
Topic: Photo entries
Today is the day after Vacation Bible School is finished for 2006. I slept in until 9:30, I was so tired. It was a fun week though and around 10 children's lives were changed for all eternity.....that is cool! It also changes the people who put together and work at a VBS. It softens your heart to teach children about God's Word and see them take it in, in full faith and trust.

Patrice, Patrick and I were the missions crew. This is our 'Glacier Pass' missions room. Here is our Northern Lights. The photos were stubborn and would not be resized. The week's theme was Arctic Edge...Where Adventure meets Courage, set in Alaska and the Arctic Circle. So all the classrooms were decorated as lodges, Snack and Recreation were a canteen, Music was a cove, Crafts a train depot and missions was a glacier pass. VBS is so much more creative and adventurous than it was when I was a child, but just as meaningful and life changing!

Here are some pictures from the week:

We sang fun songs.

We brought joyful offerings to help start a soup kitchen at a church we sponsor in Mexico.

I don't have pictures of the other classrooms at VBS, but we had Missions class every day. On the last day, we had volunteers try some whale blubber on crackers, (apple jelly) because being a missionary means having courage to try new things. *snicker* The looks on their faces as they bit into 'whale blubber' was worth the little 'trick' we played on them!

I'm a Blogging Chick
Topic: Friendship

I've joined another web ring (linking to lots of other blogs) called Blogging Chicks! Check it out....lots of women bloggers of all types. And they have carnivals too!


Definition:

Serious Fun
Topic: God things
Today was the 'hump' of Vacation Bible School week....meaning it's alllllll downhill from here! =) It's been a fun week, but with all that's been going on at home as well as at church, it's been hectic and exhausting!! We've had a birthday party, we're babysitting a first-grader after VBS all week, there were doctor's appointments at 2 different doctors for 2 daughters with ear infections. Can you say sleep interruptions???? *middle of the night*..."My ear hurts....waaaaah" I ended up cancelling my yearly check up that was scheduled today. It was just too much! And our 16 year old daughter (one of the ear sufferers) is preparing to go on a mission trip to Mississippi on Friday. This always happens to me the week of VBS!!

CWAZY!

So today, after cancelling my afternoon appointment, I am home, feets up, HGTV on, computer on lap......aaaaaaaaaaaah.... Someone peel me a grape, baby!

Oh yeah, back to my Bible School report! Patrice and I are in charge of the Missions station at Bible School. We show a video clip of some of our SBC missionaries in action on the field, then play a game or talk about what being a missionary is like. The missions station is 'Glacier Pass', so we decorated it like a glacier and it's so cool! (I am trying to remember to bring my camera to take some pictures to post here.)

VBS is always fun....I mean huge fun! It is wacky, entertaining, full of upbeat music and being creative. But like the graphic I found, it's serious fun. The children, the theme, the songs, activities, crafts, snacks and games are different every year, but the message of Bible School has stayed the same, even from the time I was in VBS in the 60's and 70's.

God knows you and loves you....
The Bible is truth and is our guide....
The salvation Jesus offers is for everyone and is free to all who believe.

Tomorrow the kids get a chance to respond to Jesus' offer.....please pray that new hearts are born and the ripple effect (oh, that's the Holy Spirit) will change families....

Arctic Edge! Where adventure meets courage!
Topic: People/Family stories
Tomorrow morning begins a week of Vacation Bible School! It's always a fun, but an exhausting week! I may come by and post pictures or stories from the week, but I'm not promising.

This afternoon, Patrice and I, along with our middle school daughters and grade school daughters, decorated our VBS room as a glacier for the missions class. It looks sooooooooo cute!!! I hope to post pics soon! (I just wish it was actually as cool as it looks in there...it's a far reach to pretend you're in the Arctic in Phoenix in July)

Getting geeky
Topic: Humor/memes
I won a battle with my computer recently. It can't win all the time, after all...

To put anything besides links in your side bars on this server, you have to open the ADVANCED editing process.

***INtimidating!!***

But, I wanted to put the CWO graphic and webring buttons on my sidebar badly enough that I figured it out. Now I'm going sidebar crazy....I don't think that is an actual mental condition, but there's always a first. When I was changing the look of this page, I even went for 2 sidebars.

Ambitious I am, Luke Skywalker!!!

Now I have learned how to center things in the sidebar, change the color of a prewritten font, and added my little brown family shadow picture there. (Yes, I changed the background to go with my picture...I can be obsessive that way.) As you can see, I added a Bible verse of the day to the left *taps pointer stick on left sidebar* and a Bible Gateway search engine to the right. *whacks the right sidebar*


If you will look, there is also a graphic and webring buttons for Christian Women Online *making circles with pointer stick*....(they let me join!)...and a Bloginality button below that. *taptap* And now that the left sidebar is so freakishly short, I will probably be adding more fun stuff over there....gotta have balance! Ooooh, maybe a Flickr graphic that has my pics all in a Hollywood Squares type box and each one takes a turn floating out at you. I've always wanted one of those!

If anyone has/knows of an easy EASY tutorial on doing pings and trackbacks, please leave me a note! That is my next goal as an up and coming webpage geek.

***My deepest apologies to anyone offended by the silliness of this post....

The rest of the story....
Topic: People/Family stories
Well, the light is fading from the sky and it's almost time to go out and look at fireworks. We are hoping we can see them from our backyard....or roof...or pool...as there is a show going on about 2 miles from here.

It was a lazy day, yet productive. We cleaned the house, did some yard work, and Charles put new light fixtures in the bathroom. I should have done a before and after picture of it.....because it's quite dramatic! The old fixtures were pendant light globes, hanging from metal chains that had seen their day back in the '80's. The metal was all corroded and the globes had embossed goldish designs on them. Yeah...ummmm, ewwww.... The new fixtures are brushed aluminum bars with 3 frosted sconces. The sconces are supposed to aim downward, but we realized after hooking them up that you can't open our bathroom medicine cabinet if the sconces aim down. So he twisted it up and it looks pretty good. I got them from Costco for $25, so he was going to MAKE them work. lol The fixtures at Home Depot were not so cheap.

After the fixture fiasco, we floated around in the pool. I brought the dog in and made her float too. She looked so hot, it was really nice of me.....heehee. She actually doesn't like it at ALL, but I'm thinking one day she will decide it's nice and jump in all by herself. I put her 2 front paws on a pool 'noodle' and put one arm under her tummy and floated her around. The only time she panicked was when her back legs would float too far under her and she felt as if she was tipping backward.

**Update** This has been sitting half done all evening. And now: The REST of the story...

Page THREE! We had some friends drop by. They just moved to town....they needed to use our internet to contact their realtor, so we invited them to swim and eat homemade ice cream with us. We watched for fireworks, but they were a little too far away and some trees and rooves were blocking what we might have seen. But it was a nice visit and the kids all had fun swimming together. (I think our water level went down a couple inches from all the splashing! lol)

I hope your 4th was fun and that you ate a burger or at least some corn on the cob. =) That reminds me, we forgot to cut the watermelon!!!! *dagnabit*