Autumnal favs

I love the vibrant color of my dehydrated tobasco peppers (if I could be a color, this would be me):

I love watching daddy/daughter talks:

 I love that apples are huge this time of year:

I love that I found coconut m&ms:

My kids love that I found peanut butter m&ms:

Thank You God for favs!

Creative Sludge

I am feeling it.  That time of my life when I have put my creative bursts of energy on hold long enough that I'm about to explode!  I want a new sewing machine, because I've never been able to thread mine the right way to sew with it and it ticks me off.  I love to sew.  I was in the costume department in college for my work/study program and I miss my sewing machine!  My poor boys, I used to sew clothing for them.  I will NOT post pictures for their sakes.

But every now and again I just have to do something for the creative center in my cerebellum.  My fine motor skills must be honed with bouts of crocheting and buttons and bows and some sewing and wall art and something, for heaven's sake.

I found an excellent pattern for the cutest baby booties, crocheted, and have knocked out a few of those, but now my appetite has been whet and I need more, like a crack addict.  I need my art.  I need my creative juices to flow.

I think I shall decopauge the dog's food bowl.  Laters.

God bless your creative spirit!

Elk Mountain, Wyoming

This is where I want to go.  I don't know why.  

The only job opening in the area is putting up 290 lineal feet of fence.  Hmmmmmm....

Who wants a field trip?!

Me, me, me, me!

God bless Elk Mountain, Wyoming!

Your Average is a C, making you average

I hate taking tests.  Hated it in school, don't like it now.  I don't like to make my kids take them either, but since I have homeschool high schoolers then I have to have a grade or something for their transcripts.  

Not too long ago my church decided to ask all of its members and chronic visitors, you know who you are, to take a test online at assessme.org.  It's a spiritual gifts sort of test.  I took it, albeit I didn't like it.  It gave some quite humorous results.  Instead of pinpointing my strengths were I could plug-in more easily to church activities and ministries it just muddied the waters.  You see, apparently I have not one, but four, personality types.  Now, this could come in handy if you need to adjust to many situations because then I'm your gal!  Whatev.

Friends of ours and my hubby and I were talking the other night about the book "The 5 Love Languages" and how it cleared up some questions for how couples relate to each other in their marriages.  We all decided to take the "survey" (cute word for evil test) and see how we should all be relating.  I suck at tests.  Did I tell you that already?  Upon scoring my results I scored the same on four out of five love languages.  No wonder my husband can't ever figure out how to communicate with me!  JK, we do fine, but really?  Seriously?  So I decided to take it again.  Ya'll pray for me.  

I know the most pressing question on your mind is which love language did not make the cut.  "Receiving gifts" is not a language I speak.  So true!  I know which love language I don't speak, but apparently am pretty quad-lingual in the rest.  Yea, I made that word up cuz I can.

Maybe that's why I blog so as not to look funny talking to all of my personalities with all of my love languages at the same time in public.  Cause really, let's be honest, most of us are just talking to ourselves here, right?  No, I'm not, yes, I am, shut up!  No, you!  Poo-poo head.  Oh, I gotta go, I'm getting out of hand!

God bless you and all of your many personalities today!

Spunky for Jesus

I love homeschooling.  Yea, yea, yea for the obvious reasons that I feel I'm doing my children a huge service by providing them with a discipleship rich education, yadda, yadda, yadda.  Yea that too, but even better, you get to meet some really cool people.

Today, I had the privilege of coming in contact with a lady with three kids and a great sense of who she is right now.  Why I say right now, is because she strikes me as human enough to be able to have a breakdown next week and be ok with it still.  The whole time these pearls of wisdom and reality flowed from her animated face I just stared at her.  Thank goodness I was wearing shades so as not to seem creepy.  The wheels were turning in my head on how I was going to afford to build an addition onto my home to accomodate her perky self so that she can be there to shake like an eight ball and ask those hard to ask questions and wait for the amazing revelations like, "so you're telling me that God doesn't care about you, is that what I'm understanding about the words coming out your mouth?"  Ok, not quite like that.  She was much more eloquent and funny.

She is raw, rare honesty wrapped up in one little spunky momma.  I loved it.  I want to be spunky for Jesus like that.  Another friend of mine was picking her brain as to the questions she had about our bible study and lil miss spunkinator was rattling off her answers as we sat around waiting for the next hilarious moment of honesty to drop to the park playground floor. All this, while calming screaming children and tattle tailing and boo-boos, etc.

I pray for my honesty to step out of the closet and show itself more often.  The witnessing that can take place in a moment like that is quite amazing.  It's not that I lie, it's just that I hold back and am not quite as vocal in my honesty.

Dear God,
I want to be spunky for you.  Help me out.  Amen.

What have you done for me lately....ooo, ooo, oo, oo, yea!

It's like a contagious, icky viral cold.  It starts and then someone else is sneezing it out then it gets on you then you're afraid you'll get it so you pray it off.  It hurts, it stings.  What do you do?  Believe me, I used to be one of those "closet trashers".  You know, the one who hides behind trash-talk, calling it a prayer request.  No more.  I don't take part in the tearing down of others anymore.  Thank you God!!!!!!  It was with his help that I rid myself of that nasty virus.

But, yesterday, I was subject to it once again in conversation with some awesome Godly ladies.  Now, I know what you're thinking, that maybe they weren't so Godly....not true.  They are two of the most Godly women I know.  You see, the trash talkin' came from a woman I dearly love, but she was trashing herself!  No, let me explain.  The things she said about her life and her spiritual journey, had they been said from a different person about her, I would've laid somebody out with a right hook and a little booty kickin'.  I found myself getting all up in a tizzy about what I was hearing.  I was offended on her behalf, but she was talking about herself.  So, you see the weird spot it puts me in.  Wanting to kick butt, but realizing that I would be kicking her butt and it would be the same person that I was defending.  Odd, I know.

I wish she knew this about this person she was talking about:

1.  She is one of the most awesome mothers on the planet!  Your babes love you so much and are such a testimony of how God works in their lives through you.  I've seen those other schoolers, really God has done a work through you.

2.  Her marriage is one of inspiration, and God did that, missy.  Yep, mark that down on your "what has God done in your life list!"

3.  Her devotion to her education of God's Word is remarkable.  Where were you a few years ago with that?  Yea, that's what I thought....God, again.

4.  Your home is the heart of your family.  It's not the edifice, its the spirit of who you all are together.  You could be anywhere and this would be true.  Again, God has worked that through for you, remember the job offer in Alaska?

5.  I would do anything I could to make the pain and the crappy times go away for you.  I would take them on myself.  I know it sucks big time, eventhough you say you're good.  I'm sorry for how you go through this time and time again.  I would take it, no, really, I would.

So, here's the thing, sista!  If you don't stop trashing my friend's life and her dignity, I will take  you to a dark alley and bring my thug friends (Jen, that's you)!


Worth.  It's what God tagged us with when he created us.  Worthy of his love.  Worthy of our role in his will. Worthy people.  Worthy of relationship.  Worthy enough to have peace.  Worthy.

Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. 1 Peter 5:7 (AMP)

Her Royal Highness

I am the queen of making excuses!  I have walked the catwalk, won the contest and wear the sash that says, "Queen of Excuses".  I would love to say that I wear this proudly, but not-so-much!  I have spent my life and now, most of my kids lives, saying, "we can't because ______________".  We don't have the money, we don't have the time, we don't have the right car, I'm not physically able, I'm not skinny enough, I'm tired, I'm yadda, yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah....  I hate this trait about me and I'd like to change it.  I think of all of the things I've never done or I won't do, if I keep this up.  I will continue to live my life vicariously with most of the rest of the world going and doing.  

This year is really going to call me on the carpet about this because we are homeschooling all of our school aged children and we don't have the restraints of the public school schedule.  We have been excited about not being under anyone's schedule so that we could go and do, but then out come my excuses.

It's fear.  It's complete and total fear.  What if.  

Will you continue to pray for me and my family as we stomp out this bad habit we have?  I do not want to pass on this particular trait to my very adventurous children.  I want them to have an exegesis spirit.  Learning about things with their own minds and bodies and having opinions about them because they have experienced things in order to have an opinion.  No more vicarious living, unless it's skydiving, because I don't have the right outfit for that.  Just sayin'.

God bless your experiences today!