your laugh for the day

Enjoy a laugh on me today! I hope your day is great.

Thursday's lunch

I went to a home party today for clothes. I got there just after Bible Study at 11:30am. I was hungry. There was food on the table. There were nuts, cookies, bread, crackers and a casserole. It looked like maybe potato or grits. Did I mention I was hungry? I got a plate and put several spoons full of the casserole, some crackers, two pieces of bread, some nuts and a cookie. I then got my glass of water. I found a seat in a corner by Peggy. We had a wonderful visit as I dug in to eat. The casserole was some sort of onion and cheese mixture. And it was wonderful. As I had my 5th spoon full of casserole in my mouth I realized that no one was using a spoon but me. Oh, No! It wasn't a delicious casserole but a dip.... A Dip... A Dip?!? How was I to know that? How did they know that and I didn't? I quickly began using my spoon to spread the dip on my bread and that was good to but not as good as just straight up dip. Did anyone see me? I wanted to crawl in a hole. If they did see me they were gracious enough to not say anything or maybe too stunned by my behavior. I was stunned by my behavior.

Oh, well, to quote John Austin, when he was about 5 and I did something stupid, "We all do stupid things, Mama."

What am I glazing over today?

Kaitlin is taking ceramics this semester. This first bowl is one she made from left-over clay. She likes all things fun sized.

The two bigger bowls were 'thrown' on a wheel. Kaitlin's class is just learning 'hand building' she will have to take another class to learn how to 'throw'. She bought the 'thrown' bowls at the 'mug' sale at school. She likes the glazes and the shapes.

I was working on my Bible Study when she got home from the sale. As she was showing me her finds, it reminded me of a verse that I had just read. Proverbs 26: 23 Like a coating of glaze over earthenware are fervent lips with an evil heart. Kaitlin said that glazing covers the imperfections in the clay. She said that the clay is a nasty brown, it smells bad and has a gritty feel. So the glaze really covers up a lot.

I looked up 'potter' in the concordance. Here is a wonderful verse I found. Isaiah 64:8 Yet, O LORD, you are the Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

A very good read.

The book we read this month for book club was The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig.

All those who attended just loved the book.

His phrases are amazing...The Rembrandt Light of Memory, Finicky and Magical and faithful at the same time, as the cheaper tint of nostalgia never is. Much of the work of my life has been to sort instruction from illusion, and, in the endless picture gallery behind the eye, I have learned to rely on a certain radiance of the detail to bring back the exactitude of the moment.

Rubbing his check as if consulting the wrinkles, Father weighed that argument.

Functional clutter is perhaps the best description of how father managed in the kitchen.

And in my case, Morris Morgan dipped me into Latin like a wick into ready candle wax.

His vocabulary is wonderful, be prepared to need your dictionary on almost every page. I learned: pluviometer, propitiously, proclivity, dray, rusk, autodidacts to name a few. Sandy and Deonna said that they were thrilled to read a book that really challenged them and made them look up words they didnt know.

There are several themes in the books. Two we talked about most are secrets and education.

Evelyn said that her father grew up in the time that this book is set in, so reading it was like hearing her father share stories from his childhood.

There are twists and turns and even as I read it a second time and I knew what was going to happen I was thrilled to see the clues that I missed the first time.

Enjoy!

Heavenly Choir

When Marisa came to live with us, Carl told her she had to work full time or go to school full time and work part-time. She chose the latter. It is amazing how God has provided her with work that fits into her school schedule. Marisa loves to babysit and she has several families that use her as their primary sitter. It is also amazing how these families are having a wonderful influence on Marisa.

One such family has a son, James. The last time Marisa babysat for them she put James to bed. James asked her to sing him the Doxology while he drank his milk. Marisa went blank on the words and the tune. So she asked James to sing it for her. In his beautiful, 2 year old voice, he sang it out with gusto. She said that it was just wonderful. Then he asked Marisa to join him and she did.

I believe that the angels above were singing with them too.

All in the line of duty

If you need a wonderful laugh Superland provides it today. We all enjoyed this.

your handbag and you

What Your Handbag Says About You, This is what mine says about me!

You tend to be relaxed throughout the day. You are naturally at peace.You tend to be relaxed but alert. You keep your eye out for anything unusual.You are open and comfortable with who you are. You don't hide anything.You are an outgoing and expressive person. You always speak your mind, and you're very approachable.



Find out about you and your handbag

For Andrew, John, Chris, Matt, Nicholas and all other men who read my blog.

This is from a blog I have on my blogroll- Radical Womanhood. I thought this was great.

Masculine Mentoring

Sometimes when I speak to women about the issues surrounding feminism and biblical femininity, I receive questions about who is teaching men their corresponding roles. Who is teaching men how to be servant-leaders? I am happy to point to the teaching of men like my own boss, C.J. Mahaney, my pastor, Josh Harris, or other leaders such as John Piper, Wayne Grudem, Dennis Rainey, Bob Lepine, Al Mohler and many more. But recently I read an example of how this masculine mentoring happens on a more personal level.

Read the Rest Here

Fall Decorations

I love fall and pumpkins. Here is our foyer with some decorations that the girls fixed up. I love it. Those are three good looking kids in that picture too! Here is more pumpkin fun.

One of the many differences between boys and girls

I asked Kaitlin, John and Marisa to help me with some cookies a few weeks ago. I put the cookies in the oven and when the timer went off, they were to get the cookies out of the oven and decorate them. Marisa went first, then Kaitlin. When it was John's time he was back in half the time as the girls. Can you guess which cookie John decorated?

Friends!

Clare went with us to the fabric store to help Marisa pick out fabric for her curtains. Then Clare came over to begin the process of making the curtains.

Clare was not too thrilled with all the pictures that we took. She was on a mission and getting her picture made was not it. She finally said that she was making curtains not a documentary! We only took a few more pictures after that!

Clare guided Marisa with some cutting and pinning. The curtains are not up yet but they are well on their way.

Oh no she didn't!

Last Saturday night we went to see Les Miserables. It was performed by a local theater. Our tickets were in two different spots. Kaitlin, Marisa and Kelsey sat in one spot while Carl and I sat in the other. As we were driving home Kaitlin was telling us about the folks that sat around them. One chair was for the usher. She said "The usher came in when the lights went down and slept til half-time, then woke up with the clapping and did her job again."

Did you catch that? half-time... half-time

Have we taken her to too many sporting events?

I shall use duck tape please!

Last night at church a friend told the nicest story of the visit she had had during supper. She told of the things she had learned about the economy from the conversation. I should have just smiled and nodded but nooooo I had to jump in and tell about how great my knowledge of this subject is and how I read the Wall Street Journal... When I looked back at my friend, I expected to see a look of admiration in her eyes about how great I am and instead it was maybe pity or even better 'bless Ellen's heart here she goes again blowing her own horn '

Am I ever going to learn to just shut up and listen? Why do I feel the need to let everyone know just how wonderful I think I am? When I replay the conversation in my head it makes me sick to my stomach.

Today I hope I have the courage to go to my friend and ask her forgiveness for being such a jerk and then I am going to put tape on my mouth. I know I need to have my heart cleaned and I am praying it will be a gentle cleaning but I know I need bleach and a scouring pad.

I love the way it looks.

Here is the inside of our church. Kaitlin took this picture last Christmas season. I think it is just beautiful.

A Rose by Any Other Name...

A few months ago our church building was struck by lightning. It did something to the sound system. It has taken several tries to figure out just what was done and now how to fix it.

This past week, on Wednesday, there was a meeting with several men who are trying to find and fix the problem. After much discussion, Carl thought a good idea would be to bring in UPS. One of the men, Bryan, told me he had no idea why Carl thought the United Postal Services could help but what did he know. Bryan went to Carl's office to bring UPS to the church. He was stunned when he saw it. It is an Uninterruptible Power Source. A giant surge protector with a battery. This one was about the size of a toaster oven. These are used to protect computers. They have a battery back up so that when the power goes off, you can still shut down your computer and not lose all your data.

Said UPS was needed at the church and Carl had to go back to work. When the men were finished with it they brought it to me in the kitchen. I put it by my purse and planned to take it home after the Wednesday meal was over.

At four that day, Kaitlin and Marisa drove to Conway to see John play flag football. They planned to stay after the game and go with John and his friends to Starbucks. Carl had a meeting that night at church. I went home after I was finished and I took the UPS with me. I sent a text message to all my people as I was leaving. I wanted to send the same message to Kaitlin, Marisa and Carl. I sent the following- headed home. I have the ups. love you. Carl sent one back that said" thanks" but Marisa sent back " I'm sorry". I was confused. I sent back " why?". She sent "your sick" I sent "no, I'm not. why do you think so?" She sent" ha ha, tell you later" When they got home they were laughing. They thought I had been throwing up and I was using some new text lingo in just saying 'ups'.

I think if the day had been any longer we might have had a few more misunderstandings about the UPS.

Valley of Vision

I am not sure who introduced me to The Valley of Vision but I am so thankful. Enjoy

The Valley of Vision

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,
Thou has brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold
thy glory.
Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,
deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter
thy stars shine;
Let me find thy light in my darkness,
Thy life in my death,
that every good work or thought found in me
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty
thy glory in my valley.

Here is the link for a daily dose http://www.banneroftruth.org/pages/dailydevotion_detail.php?898

What have you eaten today?

In my Bible reading I am in Ezekiel and some of the time as I am reading I am realizing I need to study more to even know what I am reading! I read this yesterday on Ravi Zacharias' Slice of Infinity. I have a better picture in my mind now I need to live it out.

Other vivid and concrete images of incarnation occur in the lives of the Hebrew prophets. In the book of Ezekiel, the prophet is told “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll and go, speak to the house of Israel” (See Ezekiel 2:9-3:3). This scroll is not just any scroll. It is the book of the Law, the Scriptures, the teachings and the doctrines of belief that guided the nation in its worship of God. Ronald Rolheiser suggests a profound incarnational application for this image: “The idea is that they should digest the word and turn it into their own flesh so that people will be able to see the word of God in a living body rather than on a dead parchment....We have to digest something and turn it, physically, into the flesh of our own bodies so it becomes part of what we look like. If we would do this with the word of God, others would not have to [only] read the Bible to see what God is like, they would need only to look at our faces and our lives to see God.”(1)
r
The title of the article is Incarnation Application. You can go here http://www.rzim.org/slice/slice.php. and read the rest. I subscribe to this web site and get a new one everyday. It causes me to ponder.

are you in pictures?

Here are some of the over 600 pictures Kaitlin took of Tim Tebow this past Saturday. This series is funny because if you notice the ar cheerleaders, one decided to try and speak to Tim. Notice the girl on the end with her arm raised in the first picture. Tim Tebow has football on his mind. He never even sees her. I wonder what I do or have done that someone has captured in a picture. Kinda scary...

Addie Lou

Today my mama would be 83. I am celebrating by wearing her opal ring. We also plan to play cards today at lunch in her honor. I think it will be UNO.

when is your half birthday?

Today is mine!
50 1/2.
I love 50.
There is freedom in 50.

Just a few weeks ago, after Marisa painted my toenails, GREEN, I got a raised eyebrow look from a person after they had seen my toenails. I was, at first, stunned and then I was embolded. Bring it on.

It cracks me up when folks think you have to act more stuffy and stoic as you age.

News Flash- you don't

I don't plan to start dressing like my 23 year old but I can listen to her music and enjoy her friends. I can try new things and enjoy things. Life is hard and I am confussed by people who make it harder.

How do you celebrate a half birthday you may ask? I plan to eat lunch with my family and play cards. I plan to read and then read some more. I may go buy a mixer. I am supending my to-do list for the day.

Do you know who wrote Early Morning Rain?

Carl loves music and all kinds of it.

Carl takes very good care of us. He does all that he can to make our wishes come true.

Carl makes very few requests so when he asked if we wanted to go with him to see Gordan Lightfoot, we all said " Yes!".

Here are some random thoughts on our experience:

Carl knew every word of every song. He didn't sing out this time- I'll write about that some other time. I got to hear him sing The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Gordan Lightfoot sang Early Morning Rain which he wrote and Elvis sang. He told us he went to a concert to see Elvis and hoped to meet him but never got to. Gordan Lightfoot is THIN. He kept taking bows and the audience would applaud loudly. He then told us his ears were clogged and when he bent over they cleared us. After that when he did it the crowd still went wild and he laughed. He was accompanied by a keyboard, guitar, bass, and drums. They were set up on a group of what looked like living room rugs- very homey. The light show done during the concert was amazing.

Now the people: Hippies, OLD hippies you would have thought we were at a convention of men with pony tails. Several of those around us were shucking and jiving with each song. John, Marisa and Kaitlin skewed the average age by about 30 years. A very cool blind woman sat in front of us. When one, not so bright, guy realized that she was blind and asked her how she got to her seat, she didn't miss a beat and said" Why, I flew up here Like Harry Potter".

It was a great time.

Carl and I were able to see the museum for the Edmund Fitzgerald when we lived in Minnesota. My mother and brother, Charles, were with us too. If you don't know what I am talking about or do and want more info here it is

Painting with Light

Kaitlin is still working on her project for her photo class. The faceless protraits are on the back burnner now and painting with light is the current area she is exploring.

We usually wait until an hour after sundown and then we head outside. Last night she wanted lots of white clothes too. Carl found me this handy cane that also has a seat on it so I head out with that. I usually am the shutter button pusher but I do have a staring role this week. Marisa is behind me drawing wings with a flashlight. I am so impressed with her ability to draw without seeing what she has drawn.


What we do on Friday nights Enjoy!

What's your 20?

October is my favorite month of the year. It has several special and fun days that I like to celebrate plus the air has a bit of crispness in it. After 7 years in New Orleans where there are only two seasons- hot and not quite as hot, I so enjoy having 4 seasons with fall being my favorite.

I love pumpkins and harvest decorations. I have them all over the place- the mantle, kitchens windows, bookcases, hearth, any surface without books on it. It is handy that AUBURN colors are orange and blue so my AUBURN decorations fit into my October/fall theme.

College football is into full swing by October. Today is the ar/fl game here in Fayetteville, AUBURN is on game day again with their game against vandy, plus I'll be pulling for ky today to beat al.

The only down side of October is this is the month when we see Tarantulas IN and around our house. My brother, John, thinks I should catch these guys and sale them on ebay. I generally scream until someone comes to help me and beats the thing to death. Someone once told me that Tarantulas aren't THAT poisionous. HA! The ones we see are BIG, I am not worried poison but the heart attack that will follow when these bad boys hop and hop they do!

Today is a fun day of mine in October. National C B holiday. 10-4

Have a great day Good Buddy!

ps- what's your 20 is the trucker lingo for asking where are you?, 10-4 is how they say over and out and Good Buddy is what they call each other. That's all the trucker lingo I know, no wait I do know when you see a policeman with a radar gun giving out tickets that is a smokey taking pictures and handing out coupons. For further knowledge watch Smokey and The Bandit.

Bible Study

We did the third chapter in our Bible study book- The Friendships of Women- The Darker Side of Being Crazy-Glued. It was facinating.

Day 1 We talked about the "God shaped vacuum" that Pascal said that each of us has. In Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Day 2 From I Kings 11 1-6 , how God commanded us to not marry those with other gods because they will pull our hearts away and what all Solomon did. In verse 6 it even says that Solomon did evil in the sight in the Lord. We looked at Ecclesiates and all that Solomon turned to to fill the "eternity" that was in his heart. He built houses, vineyards, gardens, pools, great herds, silver, singers- he kept his heart from no pleasure. He found all was vanity. Pat's comment on that was that it is hard to finish well.

Day 3 talks about one of the major 'Terrors' of women is isolation. Our sense of worth is grounded in the ability to make and maintain relationships.

Day4 was Overcoming Territorial Tendencies. Ps 119 : 32 says I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart. Women tend to have their circle of friends and don't like to include others. When we give God our expectations, He enlarges our hearts and we can take in others.

One other comment that I thought was fascinating was ' hurt people, hurt people'.

I was really challendged with this study to really guard my heart, seek to include other, and reach out to others.

After the study our wonderful leader, Linda, put us in groups of 4/5 to go to lunch. We were to talk about what was the best thing about the stage we are in our lives and the worst. Linda placed us in two groups of younger and older. I was in the older group! She had some from each group in our small lunch groups. I ate with Liz, Anne, Elena, and Pat. We all decided that the best things about our place in life is also the worst. For those with no one at home that have time , they have to be wise with all their time. For those with small children as much as they love it, it is very hard. We had lots of laughs and I felt that lots was accomplished with this lunch.

Only the women will understand

My beloved hairdresser, Kristi, has taken a desk job at a local hospital. I am in mourning. I am thinking I'll grow my hair out like Willy Nelson now or maybe Angelina Jolie or Don King...I am just not sure.

Do you know what today is?

My phone went off early this morning with a text from Andrew. He is getting a tattoo on his right shoulder of the AUBURN-AU. I was stunned. I wrote him back PLEASE DON'T. His next text was ' October Fool's!!!!'

Oh Yea!

His next text was don't tell Kaitlin because he wanted to get her too.

She comes in the den at that moment and I ask if she has heard from Andrew. She gets her phone. She turns it on and gets his text and she is floored. I now have my head buried in my computer so she won't see my smile. She writes him back that it will hurt and he shouldn't. She gets ' October Fool's 'from him. She is stunned, she was gotten too.

She changes her status on facebook. (For those of you who don't know Kaitlin wants to marry Tim Tebow, he just doesn't know this yet. He is the quarterback for Florida. Florida is playing ar in football this weekend in fayetteville.) Her status on facebook is that Tim Tebow is stopping by to see me on his way to fayetteville. She immediately had someone comment - " REALLY"

Kaitlin doesn't believe April should have the rights to the only 'Fools Day' so the first of every month we all get a text with some sort of prank. Andrew got her today.

Be careful today

It is October Fool's Day!