Me and You, God, Amen.

Our Father, God, Almighty, Dude up there, the Big Brie,

I will set your name apart from all others as sacred, holy.

Your kingdom, the one where you and JC and the Holy Spirit hang out, will come,

Your will, the plan YOU have for me, not my own be done, not only here,

on this planet in my life, but in the heavens as well.

Give us today, not excess for tomorrow or leftovers from yesterday, but today our daily, not monthly, bread

Forgive, redeem, have mercy on us for our sins and DEAR GOD help us to overcome all of our grudges and hurt feelings and overall bad moods and forgive those who tick us off.

Keep me away from the refrigerator and all other temptations in my life that take over my very thought life and make it impossible for me to remember that you are in charge and

keep me from the one who desires to see me fail big time

For the place set apart for us, the way we get there and the

all the praise in the times that just really suck be yours now, right here and now, not later,

but now and for the rest of time, not just tomorrow, but for-stinkin-ever!!!!!!

Yes!!!!!!!!

Now, for your viewing pleasure and

because I think The David Crowder Band is the coolest, please enjoy!!!

(pause the sidebar music before playing....)

When I Grow Up

Words I hear about her:

"You must be so proud."

"What a nice young lady!"

"Your daughter just amazes me!"

Words I have engraved on my heart:

"God has blessed me with
such a wonderful daughter!"

"Sarah Katherine"

"Daddy's Katydid"

"God whispered, and Sarah came to be."

"God has created this world
for her curiosity."

"God is so good....."

Psalms 100:3 Know that the LORD is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 

 Psalms 119:73  Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn 

your commands.

A talking ass and other everyday things

So, the book of Numbers.......  you must read it if you haven't had the privilege to do so.  It is quite an interesting book on so many levels.  It's always interesting how the God of the old testament laid out so many rules in such detail.  But that's not the topic today, that's another day or two or three.....

Balaam.  Magician, soothsayer, believed in God, ooookkkk?  Anyway, the reason why God picked him to deliver oracles to others is humorous to me, but beyond that little piece of comedic history is the story of his ass.  No, I'm not cursing, it's in the bible, ok, not my version, but the old one.  Yes, I did say it for effect and so that you would possible be more interested in my post, so, ok, his donkey.  There.  Moving on.

What is up with that?  Read Numbers 22: 21-33.  Balaam takes off on his donkey to see the princes of Balak.  The donkey sees what Balaam doesn't, an angel in the road and swerves three different occasions to miss it and each time Balaam strikes the donkey.  After the third time the donkey starts to talk.  Now to you and I, this may seem strange and a bit out of place and might make us step back and say, "whoa" or "holy moley".  But not Balaam.  His reply is nonchalant, flipant, defensive, in spite of the fact it came out of a donkey that doesn't normally talk.  Then the angel appears to Balaam and he hits the ground face down in a holy moley moment.  Talking donkey, ok.  Angel, not.  Hmmmmm.

I am perplexed a bit with Balaam's odd response to the whole thing, but then I think about it.  How many talking donkeys have I had in my life that I have beaten down or argued with so flipantly while onlookers regard that as such strange behavior.  Talking donkey, metaphorically speaking, duh.  I know I must work on areas in my life, and they often show themselves in quite odd ways and I just blow it off as normal.  Sweep it under the proverbial rug.  You?  Any talking donkeys?  Balaam shows no surprise. Why?  Is he used to talking donkeys?  When others look, are they surprised at my talking donkeys and how I react to them?  Do I overlook how God gets my atention?  Do I blow it off as just another talking donkey?

And why does it take a sword wielding angel to bring me to my knees?  What way does God show up to me that takes me down, I mean facedown for forgiveness and grace and humility?

God knew Balaam's heart, he knew he wasn't doing this for the right reason and he needed to take him down a notch or two.  I know I can serve God better and from my heart, too.  He knows what it's like in there, in my heart.  I want to more aware of the talking livestock in my life.

My faith like a Cuisinart

I love my life.  I learn something new everyday about how my Heavenly Father blesses me and loves me unconditionally.  I hope I never tire of learning.  The thing about my faith these days is that the more I pay attention those things lovely I find out something new I never knew before.  A new way of implementing my gifts or a new area of my life that needs honing and sharpening in order to work better for His kingdom.

Kind of like a new kitchen tool.  When I first get it, its usually just for one sole purpose, like making smoother guacamole.  I know how it goes together.  I know how to turn it on.  I know how to clean it.  Then it hides away in the cabinet until I absolutely need it.  Then I dig it out of the back of the cabinet and dust it off and put it to use in a new way for a new recipe.  Yummy!  Learning new ways to apply my faith is kind of like that for me.  When I don't know how it can be used effectively it sits in the depths of me waiting to be dusted off and put to good use in a new way.

Then while cleaning out my cookbooks, I come across the user manual for my Cuisinart.  Upon reading the different sections of the book I realize I have short changed my wonderful tool and hadn't been using it to its full potential!!  The bible lays it out for us.  We must read it and stay dedicated to the focus that it brings to our lives each and every day.  In reading and understanding its meanings in each season of our lives opens up opportunities for us to realize the full potential of our faith walk with Christ.  We find new parts that interchange with other parts that create new recipes in our lives to share with others.  The pulse button becomes our favorite preparation tool.  Keeping us on all the time, wears down the motor.  And well, off, just means nothing gets done.  Keeping our fingers above the pulse button keeps us at the ready to go at any time we're needed.

Then, as always, we finally realize that we must disassemble and take a look at all our parts of ourselves and give our spirits a good cleaning and tuning for the next time.  For we must always understand that our faith never leaves us from the time we believe and have the relationship with Christ, but we do forget about all the tools we are provided with when we continue to hide out in the back of the cabinet.

Keep your finger on the faith "pulse" button.  Be at the ready.  Be prepared to make something wonderful with the blessings of your life.  God has equipped you to use ALL the tools in your box.  Read the user manual, daily.  See where it takes you.  God bless your life recipe!

Romans 8: 5-11

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. 

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Pomp and Circumstance

(The day our love grew, again.)

New chapters in my life are written each day.  Some are conclusions to chapters started long ago, but ironically open the dialogue for others and their chapters to just begin.  Eighteen years ago brought to my life the most pure, happy, sparkling eyes to ever stare into the depths of my heart.  It was the birth of my second child.  Loving so wholly the beautiful human I call my first born, I was apprehensive on how I would fit this one into an already full-to-the-brim cup.  I soon found out that it's not the capacity of my heart that was the question, but my human understanding of love fell short of what love actually means in God's eyes when he places another child in your heart.  

(The sparkle was already well established here!)

He shot into my life literally, shortest labor ever, and jumped on the stage of my life as my forever court jester, John Isaac.  "God is gracious" and "he will laugh" are the meanings of his name.  We had no idea how this theme would permeate our lives, and his, forever.  John's amazing green eyes have carried a little piece of heaven down to this dry earth since they peered into the room for the first time.  He wants you to laugh with him.  He wants you to be happy when he's around.  He goes out of his way to make sure you have every need met.  He's as gracious as his Giver of life and he does it all with a sweet smile on his heart.

(Oh, those cheeks!!!)

Ok, yadda, yadda, yadda....why wane philosophical?  Well, tomorrow my sparkly-eyed child will walk across the stage and with laughter in his heart will accept the diploma he so rightly deserves as a high school graduate.  Life lays ahead in a beautiful tapestry for him to either lay in wait on it's softness or to ride it into the horizon like the magic carpet of life.  I'm betting it's the latter.  He's made plans and plans have fallen through, but God is guiding his steps and he is so very well aware of God's presence in his life. I have no doubt that where his feet find themselves will be the ground that God has laid before him, fertile with opportunities and his own testimony to write and live.  I am so proud of him.  I only wish his sixth grade teacher that said he was "too slow" to make it through could see him now.  His dad and I prayed hard through that year, especially around the time of parent/teacher conference time.

(Life is always fun!)

So, as John takes his leap of faith into the pages of HIS book and HIS chapter and walks out of my chapter and starts a new page for me I will take it all in deep within my lungs and imagine it will be like the smell of rain, fresh, quenching, soothing and so welcome.  Congratulations John!  I love you!

(I blinked and he grew)

Deuteronomy 6:1-2  These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.

Outlaw Homeschooling

Ok, so I guess I just have a social death wish.  I don't care about what the rest of the world may or may not do with their kids, therefore my way of parenting is completely unpopular and I'm ok with that for the first time in a long time.  I have been very shy raising my kids in the public eye.  Don't want anyone to turn me in to the officials if they see me take away my child's toy in the store or forbid them to move from time out when we're at the park.  Most of the time I have removed said child and myself from the eyes of the spectators in order to lay out the discipline.  It worked for me and my kiddos, but it has caused a backlash with those around who need an example of how to parent one's child.  Let's get real.  If you didn't have a set of great examples growing up on parenting you may feel a little intimidated on how to handle this wild and crazy idea called discipline.  Anyway, that's another post altogether.  My point remains that I am unpopular because the popular ones are loud about their beliefs.

When I started homeschooling two of my children, I has assumed the above to be true with everyone.  Until I attended a wonderful conference a couple of weeks ago.  You see, up to this point I had only attended a very secular conference and literally felt like a failure in my parenting and educating.  I didn't believe the way they handled things was something I was doing or even COULD do.  So, I got depressed, very depressed.  I held fast to the beliefs I had about how my Christian parenting, that included, but was not limited to educating my children was spot on.  But some friends and family let me know, oh-so-subtly, that I am not thinking this through.  You have to look for the supportive ones, you can't expect them to come to you.  Not being a secular parent, not getting the support I wanted, I wondered where God was leading my heart and why He would take me down this lonely path with such a passion and fire still in my heart.

What a refreshing break from my pseudo reality I thought I was surrounded by, to join in with thousands of individuals at the annual NCHE conference.  These experts in all things homeschool and parenting were just like me, well most were.  Anyway, here are just some of the "aha's" that I lived out while in attendance:

One mom was asked by her friends why she wanted to homeschool and she replied. "because I felt like public school was getting the best part of my kid and his day.  He would come home like a zombie and I wanted to interact and he was tired."  So very true.  Well said and wish I had that insight when I was pulling out my kids several years ago.  "I just want to," was my reply, which sounds like, "because I said so," which is so frustrating.  I like her reply much better.

I am blessed.  Yes, I am also hard headed in this area of blessings.  I am easily talked into what I am doing wrong and where my failures are and not enough standing on the rock of my blessings that God has placed in my life.  I need to get a grip in this area.  I am truly, truly blessed!

Let go.  This one is so funny, because just about EVERY speaker that I listened to said this.  A lot were talking about moms letting their boys go and be boys.  I do agree.  I also find it odd that you have to be told this little gem.  I love my boys, but I don't want to smell their sweaty laundry forever!  Just sayin'.

You're fine.  I really am.  I believe in an all-knowing, loving, omnipotent God.  Why would I think that He wouldn't be there in every situation when I ask that of Him everyday anyway?  I loved this speaker.  Her name was Debbie Mason and she was phenomenal!  She said she came to the understanding when she felt like a failure that, "God will cover what you don't."  Duh.  Wow, I am thick skulled.

If I believe, and I do.  If I pray, and I do.  If I trust Him, and I do....then I can't screw this up with God.

So, moving on.  I was so excited about the possibilities in my parenting and educating and such that now my husband is even more excited about it.  It's going to be a journey of unknowns and some tension, but the rewards are outweighing the others by leaps and bounds!  I like being unpopular.  I am embracing it, in fact.  Bring it on world!

Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.  ~Mark Twain

All the world is a laboratory to the inquiring mind.  ~Martin H. Fischer