Disappointment

He stands imposingly in the doorway.
Broad shouldered, darkly staring me down.
Accusing. Glaring. Denouncing.

I steal a look at him and run weakly to my hiding spot,
like an injured rabbit.
Where my eyes grow bloodshot hot
and my heart red heavy.
Foolish. Scared. Embarrassed.

It seems impossible to face him.

To go up against him nose to nose.
Confident. Empowered. Believing.

I would rather not take the risk.
And turn inward.
Quiet. Paralyzed. Numb.

Or I would rather fight him like a crazy woman.
Swing my fist into his jaw, hair flying insanely.
Wild. Angry. Hurt.

Instead.

I will pick myself up.
I will walk calmly towards him.
I will give him a steel look in the eye.
Mouth set, I will say firmly,
"Move over. I am coming through."

Faith-filled. Moving forward. Expecting God's best.

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Of Pumpkins and Mud

Once again, we went to the pumpkin patch in Bixby.

We enjoyed the usual elements:
mounds and mounds of bright orange pumpkins.
Cute little girls in kitty cat shirts.Interesting farm animals. Lots of 'em.Bags of feed for .50 cents apiece. Pony rides: $4.00.
Scarecrows and other photo ops. And something new for us this year: mud. See it on the pumpkin?
Look at the ground. It was impossible to avoid the sludge of muddy soup.
The mud on this boy is just a small sample of the total amount that covered him by the end of our visit. The pictures don't do the mud justice. The upside? Not many people decided to brave the mud like we did, so we had the whole sloppy place to ourselves. I tried to ignore the fact the mud won; it took me an entire day to get the boots, the blankets and my car free from the caked on baked on mud. The kids didn't care, in fact they had fun in spite or because of the mud!

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Perfect Pairings

Here are Kami and her friends at "Gross Night" at Fellowship Bible. One activity included Mountain Dew, Baby Ruth Candy Bars, and an actual toilet. I will leave it at that. The final activity was the shaving cream war, below.



~Ezekiel 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.

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Kindergarten Confessions

You may remember our struggles with Luke's FIRST Kindergarten year. We had roughs and tumbles and timeouts and even a trip or two to the Principal. I think I about used up all my tears and brain cells trying to figure out what to do with the child.

After much talking and reading and discussing and praying, Luke is now in superkindergarten, and he has an alias. He has transformed into a boy named "L.J." Before school started, we heard that his class was bursting full of Lukes, so he took it upon himself to find a different name. Luke James dubbed himself L.J.

It's been such a fantastic year so far that I may insist that he goes by L.J. every year. Now, to clarify, we haven't had parent teacher conferences yet... however, it feels better. It feels like he is NOW ready for kindergarten. There seems to be a peace and a certainty with Luke's situation that I was afraid wouldn't find me for years. It probably helps that Luke's teacher is an angel sent straight to her earthly classroom strictly for one little 6 year old stinkbug named L.J. She's beyond fantastic.

Anyway, the boy just cracks me up. I walked by his classroom this morning and observed some of L.J. and his classmates' art on the walls. The children were apparently supposed to draw a picture of what their family likes to do together.

Here is Kylie's creation. She and her family enjoy swimming in Grandma's pool.Annette and her family love to go to church. How sweet.

L.J.'s friend Wyatt has a family who enjoys boating. I love Maya's picture of her family playing tic tac toe.

and here is L.J.'s picture. Read the bottom of the page: "My family likes to have fun together. Here is a picture of us. We are on a trip on a pirate ship." There is even a cannon firing and I believe we are holding guns. I hope that is Tom up on the mast.

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Perfect Pairings

This weekend, Oliver Twist opened at our local children's theatre, in which Ellie played an orphan and a pickpocket. I caught this pic between scenes. She likes to hole up underneath some tables during the other kids' scenes and I thought she looked awful pitiful here - sad eyes. Though she has had fun pouring herself into a this role, the word of God says something very specific about people like Ellie's characters.
You're blessed when you've lost it all.
God's kingdom is there for the finding.
You're blessed when you're ravenously hungry.
Then you're ready for the Messianic meal.

You're blessed when the tears flow freely.
Joy comes with the morning.

The Message - Luke 6:20b

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Hurtin' for a Good Laugh

My bones just need it.

And it's just not just a psychological thing, though I can be quite psycho at times.

It's scientific.
It's quantifiable.
It's physiological.

Check out how humor contributes to physical health: (according to this website)

Muscle Relaxation - Belly laugh results in muscle relaxation. While you laugh, the muscles that do not participate in the belly laugh, relaxes. After you finish laughing those muscles involved in the laughter start to relax. So, the action takes place in two stages.

Reduction of Stress Hormones - Laughter reduces at least four of neuroendocrine hormones associated with stress response. These are epinephrine, cortisol, dopac, and growth hormone.

Immune System Enhancement - Clinical studies have shown that humor strengthens the immune system.

Pain Reduction - Humor allows a person to "forget" about pains such as aches, arthritis, etc.

Cardiac Exercise - A belly laugh is equivalent to "an internal jogging." Laughter can provide good cardiac conditioning especially for those who are unable to perform physical exercises.

Blood Pressure - Women seem to benefit more than men in preventing hypertension.

Respiration - Frequent belly laughter empties your lungs of more air than it takes in resulting in a cleansing effect - similar to deep breathing. Especially beneficial for patient's who are suffering from emphysema and other respiratory ailments.

Wow, do I ever need a good laugh.

I'm feeling the frustration of trying to be

everything to everybody on everyday at everymoment.

I am energetic PTA member

dependable soccer mom

yes lady to many a task

on-top-of-it Bible Study girl

keeper of the calendar

oh so athletic tennis mama HAHAHAHA

queen bee of the home

doctor and pharmacist

brillant tutor of math and reading

gourmet cook of many healthy dishes

yet chicken lickin skinny mini

thoughtful, loving, daughter

never-forgets-to-call grandaughter

super sister

awesome blogger

bubbly friend

adoring wonderiffic wife

supportive coach's spouse

taking one for the team

always fill in when you need her volunteer

never forget to pack a snack in the backpack kind of mom.

English Teacher Extrordiare

to put it another way....
I'm timekeeper, referee, and cheerleader.
And most of the time, the starting quarterback.
Heck, I also sell the tickets and clean up the crud after the game.

Pleaser

Parent

Prayer

Pillow
Pretty

Pickerupper

Planter of flowers

Part time Printshop

Previewer of Books, Movies and other media

Plucker of Attitudes

Player of Games

Piano Teacher

Protector of my kiddos

Passionate Preacher

Play Practice Princess

Phone Police
"Pick up Your Stuff" Yeller

Peace keeper

Party Planner

Poop Patrol

Producer of Eggs

Preventer of Accidents

PTA Phreak -(!!!!!)

Pretender to have it all together
Picker of noses

and other orifices.

Priveleged to do each and every one of these things.

But Prover of only one thing:

I can't do it all.

you can't do it all.

i know that i'm not the first one to feel this way.

So half-done.

So scattered.

So lacking.

Cause I can't effectively be all the things i really want to be.

But.

One thing I know that I am.

I AM a Child of the King.

I know the truth is that i only need to be what He wants me to be.

expectations and true desires aside.

Starting now.

And what he wants me to do right now, right this minute is laugh. Be healthy. Be happy.

Here are a few things that make me laugh:

Ellie is preparing her Nerd costume for Halloween. She found these glasses at the thrift store. She can always bring a smile to our faces.

My friend Kerry came into town from Thomas for a meeting and stayed here with us for one night. It was like having a cross between Lisa Kudrow and Anjelah Johnson in my house.

Kerry is so stinking funny.

I have always adored Calvin and Hobbes. Click on cartoon to get a closer laugh.




And finally, this guy cracks me up. Check out all his videos on You Tube.

You may just get a good laugh yourself.

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Perfect Pairings

1 Peter 2:2 ~ Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.

Perfect Pairings" is a fun and easy way to blog. Just find a picture you like and then pair it with a scripture...or, vice versa, think of a scripture and try to find a picture to fit its theme. Then, post your link in the comment section here. What a great way to share a picture, and at the same time, honor God with His Word!

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