Saturday, March 7, 2015
Saturday, December 31, 2011
a year of here ~
conversations on fur ~
Me - "The white fur on his coat is Polar Bear fur...it is the warmest fur there is!!!"
Adeline -"SANTA HUNTS POLAR BEARS!?!?"
Me - "What? Uhhh...NO!! When an old one dies... from old age, he uses it's fur to keep warm."
Adeline - " Ewwwww....what does he do with the dead, skinned polar bear body? Doesn't it smell????
Me - "No, uhhh...cause after he skins it for it's fur, he cooks it and eat it...just like the Indians did with the buffalo?!?!"
Adeline - "That's so gross!"
Mom - "Yeah, well, Santa's gotta eat too."
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
french 101 ~
Dear little classmate of my son,
Thank you for educating Fisher today about "French Kissing." Because of your deep and compelling insight on the subject, Fisher asked us at dinner tonight, why they lick each other instead of kiss each other in France.
Gratefully,
Fisher's mom
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
lessons from rain ~
Sunday, November 8, 2009
the dilemma of tackling ~
Monday, July 13, 2009
do we need all ten fingers anyway? ~
Often I am asked, why...why do we as his parents let him approach and worse, handle such mystery creatures....well, I have no "satisfactory" answer except that God has given me certain peace about Fishers uncanny familiarity with "wildlife." Fisher has no "fear filter" when it comes to God's creatures, but he does use a filter of wisdom and Jeff and I have both observed it in action. For example, he will not catch a snake he knows is poisonous and he would not have attempted to catch a shark twice his size...if he thinks death is even an option then he refrains, but simply losing a finger might be worth the adventure. He has caught countless number of insects, reptiles, amphibians, animals, birds, and now sea creatures that we have literally lost count.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
proper vessels ~
goals ~
Monday, February 9, 2009
'best-est' just works sometimes ~
Well, one Sunday, she was dropped off at the door of our church and as she was getting out of the car she chose to leave her middle finger in the door as she shut it. No other finger was a casualty of this happening… just the middle finger (how that is physically possible is beyond me) …she whimpered a bit and made her way into the church service. I was not present for any of this but I come into the scene later…
Sooooo… she is sitting in church waiting for the service to start, and she begins to feel the pain welling up in her finger…and upon further investigation she notices that it is rapidly becoming the size of a link of Jimmy Dean Sausage. Well either the sight of this or all the blood leaving her head and going to her finger cause her to feel a bit “queasy” and so she got up and headed to the kitchen area behind the sanctuary.
Here the scene turns quite dramatic…You see, during Dana’s pregnancy she was like a “rare and precious pearl” to all who knew her…it was difficult for her to get pregnant, and then to top it off with her diabetes and high risk pregnancy…she was like a walking emergency room…drama ensued everywhere she went…(I think she kind of liked it...shhh)
Well I innocently made my way to the kitchen to refill my coffee before the service started and this is the scene I find…(get ready)… Dana spread out on the long Kitchen table…lying there on her back, hands folded across her chest as if she is in a coffin. It was like a scene from ER, there were people moving 90 miles an hour grabbing ice and fanning her and yelling frantically... “Get help…get help”
If I had not have been concerned for her pregnancy, I probably would have laughed out loud…(that is just the way it is with us) it was quite the 911…so I rush over to her to see if she is like in labor??? or in a diabetic coma ??? or bleeding about the head and face???…and to my surprise and relief, she looks at me, whimpers, and holds up her swollen middle finger and says… “I slammed it in the car door…it really hurts”…I think I actually laughed out loud while others looked at me in disbelief. Trust me, my “inappropriate” laughter, was accompianed by a deep relief... it was just a finger 911 and not a baby 911…not a Dana 911
For the rest of the service she remained there on the kitchen table. With others checking on her periodically (me included), and to this day when I picture her 4’11 frame with her 8 month tummy and her swollen middle finger lying flat on her back on the table in the very middle of our little church kitchen I laugh…If only I had brought a camera…I am sure the visitors that day were quite confused.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
familiar nets ~
When I consider this call, I think, wow, what an invitation right?But, then again, not really… I don’t think Christ was politely asking …he was, in his wonderful authoritative way, commanding… Scripture says Peter immediately left his net and followed…why did he respond so quickly? Remember this was his livelihood…probably all he knew…and he had never met this stranger calling him so boldly from the beach…he had no obvious reason to go and no reason to follow…but this was his call to service and Peter’s response illustrates how authoritative, direct and powerful Christ’s commanding invitation must have been!
So I think, what familiar places am I willing to leave the comforts of for something presently I know nothing about? Have I entered into His authoritative command on my life to come and be a part of all that he has prepared for me? (Eph 2:10) Peter did, and what an amazing journey he began, journeys where he walked on water, and witnessed the many miracles of Christ…a journey miles apart from the life of a fisherman in the Sea of Galilee. I don’t want to miss my journey and the “big stuff” waiting there...I pray that I am not still holding onto familiar nets in my own Sea of Galilee.
Peter’s journey was one full of a zealous love and heart for Christ and His ministry. He was so full of passion...he truly “got it”…even Christ tells him that in Matt. 16:17. After asking His disciples “who do you say that I am” Peter answers, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.” And Christ says to him… “Blessed are you Peter, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my Father in heaven.” He knew now who the seemingly bossy stranger calling him from the beach truly was and what that meant for him. When I think of my children, this is what I pray for them...that they understand what flesh and blood cannot “reveal,” but only the pricking of their hearts by their “Father in Heaven.”
I hope I don’t just get it once though, I hope to keep “getting it,” I want to continue in understanding who this maker is that pursues me with an unquenchable love? I don’t know that I “get it” all the time, but I have moments, days and perhaps seasons like Peter’s…when I say… “Wow…You are the Christ”…I hope to keep getting to know this authoritative companion who walks with me in life, but who also holds my future in his hand. I want to keep “getting it” more deeply.
But it is so comforting to read that Peter still had moments of weakness and confusion… Matthew 26:58 describes the zealous believer who had just proclaimed Him “the Christ” now, after Jesus’ arrest, following behind him “from a distance”…ouch…now he is lingering further away from this redeemer and following him “in secret.” “What happened to you Peter?”…I want ask as I read…and then I stop and think of my own life…as much as I think “I get it,” I know that I have areas of my life that I find myself, like Peter…following “from a distance”… areas that are hard for me to fully give up control. …Nets that are too familiar to just drop and walk away from for the unknown that awaits in following my savior totally and completely…so I stop and reconsider Peter and his denial and distant following…and begin to search myself and creep closer to the provider of all my needs and strive to follow more closely and more completely.
One of my favorite parts in scripture about Peter is found after Christ’s death resurrection…Acts 4:13 “Now as they observed the confidence of Peter…and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.” Wow…what redemption…what restoration…what completion…He was fully living the call on his life…before he had been trailing his Lord at a distance, hoping not to be associated with this radical savior, and here we find him healing in the name of Christ and living in such a way that others were amazed and recognized him as “having been with Jesus.” Freed from the fear of association. I love the restoration and mercy this highlights for us all.
I too, want to try to drop my familiar nets…all of them…and respond quickly to the commands of Christ and his call on my life, leaving the familiar for the extraordinary, holding tight to the truth, striving to “get it” more deeply, giving over the areas that are “following at a distance” to the point that someday…hopefully…others recognize that I have been with Jesus. So for now…Lord…Show me the nets, help me to drop them and give met the courage to follow!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
beth moore was my roommate ~
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
effort counts for something, right? ~
2009 New Year Goals
Spiritual Goals –
Scripture memory ~ larger chunks (Beginning with Psalm 23, and Psalm 91)
Read He that is spiritual - Chafer
Read The Divine Conspiracy - Willard
Read The spirit of the disciplines - Willard
Physical Goals -
Vitamins – (Jeff sets them out for me every day, and I never take them.)
Brush teeth before bed - I know this one seems odd, but too many nights I just brush past the bathroom and b-line straight for the bed.
Skin care regiment - Hello...40 is not that far.
Personal Goals –
Read The Biography of George Muller
Read Through the gates of splendor - Elliot
Read Biography of Eric Lidell
(I would like to focus on amazing acts of others)
Watch College Football
Learn and understand photoshop and get a SLR Camera (I was motivated by the pictures we had taken in November - I don't want to go into business, just capture the great moments of life in my house as it happens...I thought...if she (the photographer can do this, I can do this...not always the case with everything, but worth a try)
Social Goals –
Keep up better with my girlfriends by initiating more phone calls - I get on auto pilot way too much...I can forget to look up!
Service Goals –
I want to make our support of Village Schools International in Tanzania more infused into our family through pictures,(one is shown above) and reading the ministry updates to the family.
Family Service projects
Marital Goals –
Re-read The Excellent Wife – Peace
Read The Love Dare
Continue bi-monthly date nights w/ sitter
Parenting Goals –
Read Raising Kids that turn out right – Kimmal
Re-read Being a Great mom raising great kids - Jaynes
Re-read Grace based parenting – Kimmal
Memorize our family blueprint and teach it to our children...infuse it into our home(I will list the blue print here)
Camping – do it (twice next year)
Scripture memory w/ kids
Daily devotionals with kids
Family meeting/devos - short and sweet - once a week!
Fantasy Goal -
meet and become good friends with Beth Moore