April Showers

Yesterday was Halloween. We participate. This blog isn't about that touchy subject. Money has been tight in our house lately. We've all been there, right? With Halloween approaching recently, I was wondering what Keirsey could dress up as. I mentioned a hobo to her and she took to the idea immediately. We looked up pictures online and planned out her clothes for the past two weeks. The day finally came that we cut up her jeans, ripped up a shirt that was given to us (for THIS very occasion!) and the fun began. She tried on the jeans... not quite "hoboish" enough. So we added more tears, more rips until it finally looked right. Then we washed them... about 5 times! We tore up a straw hat for her wear. Except it gave her more of an unwashed dirt farmer look! So we pulled out an old beanie and stomped it in the mud. LITERALLY! The snow was melting and gave us the perfect mud hole! We did the same with the jeans and shirt. Then Brad Dad had the idea of "beat the...

I picked Keirsey up from school day, just like normal. I had no idea that today was FAR from normal.  We had been home about 10 minutes when Brad announced he needed to run to the dump. Let me step back in time for second here... *starts music that signals "back in time" segment coming up* When I was Keirsey's age, we would take regular trips to the dump in Borger, Texas. I LOVED it. We owned horses and had 3 acres of land. Plenty of things would pile up and we would load down the horse trailer and take off. But why did I like going? Well, I felt rich, that's why. The very second our tires hit the dirt of the dump, LOADS of people would clamor onto the trailer and begin digging through our trash to take what they wanted. These people would sift through our TRASH to find things to TAKE  HOME... as a child, this fascinated me. Might be why I like doing garage sales! *End "back in time" music to return to present day* I jumped at the chance to go with him. ...

I remember celebrating St. Patrick's Day as a kid in school. One year, I got to "pinch back" several people because the back of my ponytail was sprayed green and unless you were behind me, it wasn't noticeable. It was such a thrill to hide your green so that you could grab a wad of skin and give a tug. Green socks, green undies or green toenails hidden by your shoes were always a popular choice. As I got older, I realized that drinking was a huge part of St. Patrick's Day. Shirts with green beer seemed pretty popular. Since I did not drink, none of this appealed to me. I still played it safe and wore a splash of green on that day. My St. Patrick's Day changed forever on March 17, 2003 in the early morning hours. I had endured an extremely difficult pregnancy and was now in the hospital, with a baby that was 7 weeks early and in distress. I had just been told "we have to do an emergency c-section. It's a very dangerous situation." I was being ...

My daughter is in Girl Scouts this year. As you might already know, it's cookie time! I decided to help her out by letting my Facebook friends know she was selling. I got several responses and so far, I have mailed out two orders. One to Goodyear, Arizona to a dear, dear friend of mine from Bible school. I love Valerie like a sister. The other to Yakima, Washington to a former boss, who by the way, is one of the MOST Godly men I've ever be blessed to meet. Loved working for him and wish I still did. Fantastic guy! Before I mailed the cookies out, both of these people mailed me money to purchase their order. No biggie. Just mailing a check, right? Oh so very wrong. Both of them put small personal messages in the envelope. First was Scott, the former boss. "With all my brotherly love" it read. Seven months of sitting right next to him came back in a flash. I can't describe working for Scott. He was like an older, wise and very Christlike uncle! Always encouraging...

This subject has been on my mind for years. How today's church simply eats whatever is fed to them from the pulpits in church. Regurgitated revelation....That's what we live on now. We live off the revelation of SOMEONE ELSE, instead of getting our own knowledge from studying out what God's Word says. When was the last time you thought "is that REALLY what the Scripture means?" and pulled out that old dusty Bible reference book? Or do you even have one? It bothers me GREATLY when a speaker gives ONE SCRIPTURE, then says "Now here is what that Scripture means..." going on to give an entire sermon based on one sentence from the Bible. Where is the example in that? The last church service I attended, the pastor gave an entire story from the Bible and then explained how you can know what you have from God is real, based on the story and how things unfolded in it. God is a God of pattern. Our Bible shows us that over and over. It was one of the most touch...