Right Now

Right now I am typing away while I wait for a lemon pound cake to finish baking. The recipe says one hour and five minutes but I have never baked a pound cake in my life that hasn't stayed in my oven for an hour and a half. I am taking it to the secretaries at my church. They work very hard and are always so sweet to me when I ask a favor or need some copies or whatever I bug them about. I do have an ulterior motive though. I need some copies of a new lesson book for my Sunday School class to begin in two weeks. It is called "Simply Fragrance". It is all about the fragrance we as believers are sending up to God. Very good stuff. I am excited! Also, we have a special speaker this week at church on Bible prophecy and eschatology or end time events. I like that word...eschatology. Sounds really smart!! He has a Q/A time before he speaks and I am hoping I see him at church so I can ask him something because I know I will not get called on at church tonight. Bless his heart he only got to answer three questions last night and there were so many more people wanted to ask. He is a very smart and funny man. His knowledge of scripture is amazing to listen to. He spoke last night on what is happening right now in Jerusalem and all over the middle east. He told us more information than I could retain on the hows,whys,wheres of Islam and their faith. He really helped me to understand the ancient maps of the Bible. Some of the names have been changed in our modern world and I am so glad to know where places like Put and Cush really are today. Tonight he will be talking about the location of the garden of Eden. It is really exciting stuff. We live in a great time for knowledge and information. Sometimes I feel so ignorant of my world and what is going on right now in various places. I am just so glad that I serve a God who loves me ... right now and later too!

sunset

We had a beautiful sunset this evening. The sun backlit the clouds in such a glorious display. I wish I was more adept at photography and editing to do it justice. You know God just tells the sun to set and the clouds to form and then He just splashes colors here and there. A-ma-zing!!


I love the darkness of the trees with the clouds glowing from behind.




Looks like a cloud volcano. Kinda?




Just beautiful

Satisfied

Last night I hosted the College and Career Sunday School Class at my home for their summer Bible study. They go from volunteer home to volunteer home each Wednesday night throughout the summer to visit and have a devotional time together. They are so precious! I wish they would come here every week. Last night during their praise and prayer request time it struck me that each of them that made a request was for some kind of change in their lives. More school, better jobs, a job, wedding plans, relational issues and so on. You get the gist. They were on the whole ...dissatisfied with their current circumstances. This is not a bad thing, we all get this way. The older adults present all told them that they will always desire something different. But, is this a God-thing? Why are we such dissatisfied people? This past week has been so sad in our little community. A man I went to school with, used to double date, with killed himself. He was one of the kindest men I have ever met. But he was in such a pit of despair that he was just blinded by it and in a moment was gone. Dissatisfaction in its extreme. Why do we always want more, better (we think), different? The Bible tells me we are to be content with little or much. This applies to food, clothes, housing issues, friendships etc... When I look at Piper I see someone who is basically satisfied all the time. Why shouldn't she be? All her needs are met. When she is hungry she is fed. When she is sleepy she sleeps. She has got this whole thing figured out. She doesn't know that someone else has more or better or anything. She is happy with what she has. When do we lose this? As adults we want what someone else has or does or goes or whatever. Suddenly our life is not so hot so we want something different. Sadly, the new of different wears off and we are back to square one. God will meet all our needs. He promises that to His children. Our needs. In Psalms it tells me to "delight myself in the Lord and He will give me the desires of my heart." Does this mean He will give me what I want??? No. When I delight (which means to pour over and greatly love) in Him (His word) I will see the desires of my heart ( a deceitful thing) change to what He desires in me. In other words...He will change my want to. He alone satisfies. Not stuff. Not people. Not jobs. When my desires are His desires every job is a joy, every house a home (big difference there), every relationship fruitful. Life is just satisfying when we allow God to work our issues out instead of forging ahead leaving a trail of dissatisfaction behind. My memory verse for this last half of the month is this:

Romans 12:2 NLT
Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the ways you think.

Good words to listen and apply.

Father's Day!

We had a beautiful Father's Day today. the weather was wonderful. Not super hot, breezy and just right to eat outside. We had a great sermon at church this morning on what it means to really be a father. A quiet afternoon and then a big family cookout for my daddy this evening. Bless his heart! He had to bbq his own ribs, but they were soooo gooooood! Below are some photos from the day!


Happy First Father's Day, Daddy. I love You!!!





Megan and Thad goofing off! They are such a funny couple.




My daddy and all his girls! Brittany, Megan, daddy, me, Piper, Becky, Erica and my mom




Erica, Blake and Piper's first Father's Day. He is such a good daddy too!

Forgotten

I started a new Bible study this week at my cousin Candy's church. It is called "Seed" by Priscilla Shirer. It is going to be fabulous. Each week we are give a "seed" word to dig into the word with. The first week was the word "forgotten". Have you ever felt forgotten?? I sure have. I have done some forgetting too. The word forgotten means to cast aside, ignore, neglect, pass by, disregard. Is that not sad? In my life there have been many occasions of forgotteness. Times when I just feel as if I am drowning. Often times we as women put on that false face and smile and go along to get along. I am so guilty of that. Through this study we pull out a few scriptures that concentrate on the core of that one word. It was so soothing to know that God is the secret seer. He never, ever, ever forgets us. He sees us. He watches us. He protects us. He never casts us aside. He never leaves us. Never. I think at times we all feel ugly, fat, old, undesirable and all those awful words that we can conjure up when we look in the mirror. But listen to these words:


• "The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord" (Psalm 45:11, NIV).


"You're beautiful from head to toe, my dear love, beautiful beyond compare, absolutely flawless" (Song of Solomon 4:7b, MSG).

God loves me. Period. End of discussion. In His eyes I am beautiful. What a warming thought for my weary heart. God does not forget me and knowing this is making me be more aware how to not forget others. To look more closely at people, to be a seer of hurts and to tell them of someone who won't forget.

Show and Tell

I told y'all a while back that Megan was an agriculture science major at NC State. All year long she brought home plants and seeds for me to take care of for her. I am terrible with plants for the most part. I did kill her two orchids but the rest survived. I now have a purple leaf plum tree in my front yard that Megan grafted. I have a Kentucky coffee tree that is growing great in a pot. I have several petunias and other flowers she started in peat pots that are getting really big. But the best is her garden. We took the old sandbox and my daddy put some lime, fertilizer and soil in it to prepare it for her plants. She grew her own zebra tomato plants from seed and transplanted them in the garden. We have cucumber, cantaloupe and squash going great. We planted watermelon too but it isn't up yet. I am so proud of all her efforts and we can't wait to reap all the benefits!


One of her tomato plants. I love tomato sandwiches!



This is a look at the whole thing. Small but productive.




This little squash is wanting to be rolled in cornmeal batter and fried. Yum!!

A Good Day

Today was a very good day. Take a look...



We picked clover flowers in the yard.



We thought they smelled so sweet!




Piper loves to share her flowers.




We shared a snack of banana puffs.




Penny really, really likes puffs too.




We even had some juice.




Today was a super-good day because school is out and I get to spend more time with a certain baby girl I am crazy about....

Wring me out!!!

I am a big, fat sopping mess! I am so thankful that we are down to 3, that is right 3, 3, 3, THREE, more days of school. I work in the cafeteria of an elementary school where there is no air conditioning and also no windows in the actual kitchen. Today it was a sweltering, steamy, lava-pit of 114 degrees. Honestly, by 10:45 this morning I could wring my bra out. That is just gross but it is what it is. Brutal. I really think the kitchen is right over a pit in hell. Unreal. Tomorrow is supposed to be a balmy 98 degrees. Cannot wait. I am just going to show up with a garden hose to hook up in the back to continually spray me all day long. The kids would love that. As if work was not hot enough and I was not drenched in sweat I had to go straight to the dentist after school. Do not pass go and please pay 200.00 when you get there. I apologized 10,000 times for being a sweaty, ogre-like creature that just plain stank, but I had to be worked in and dadgummit my drenchiness would have to be overlooked. I sometimes wish I could just pop my teeth in a glass at night and rinse them good and pop them back in the next morning. Sounds ultra-attractive??? I do have a coupon for some fixodent in my purse. Hmmmmmmm.... Now, I am home and I am tired and I have no groceries and I have to go to the grocery store and I so do not want to go!!! Wwwwhhhaaaa!!! (that is me crying my eyes right out of my head) But first, I am going to the Alliance Women's meeting at church. For the record I am being forced to do this by my good friend K.H. When she reads this she will know that I have told the world, or at least 8 people, that she has forced me to go! Not really, but I would rather stay home and do nothing. After the meeting I will go to the store and hopefully have a better attitude and mindset about things in general. I just hope the ladies' home we are meeting in is air conditioned!! I love summertime. I really do. Heat doesn't really get to me too bad and I tend to stay outside all day once school is out. I like to float all day in the pool and get my housework done early in the morning or after the sun goes down. It just got so hot very fast this year. No real spring, just straight into summer with high 90's for the temps. I guess wringing myself out will be the new thing this season!!

Ten Months Old

Piper, you are 10 months old!! Wow!! You are growing so fast. You are crawling like a maniac. You love to explore from room to room. You wave bye-bye and hello. You clap your little hands whenever we say "yay!" You are pulling up, standing up and travelling around things a little. You are very coordinated. You pass things from hand to hand, open and close and turn things from end to end. Whenever someone tells you no you often give them a grumpy look and then give a low growl. It is so funny but you listen and stop whatever you aren't supposed to be doing. What a smart baby you are! You have three teeth and are having a hard time with your teething. Your sweet "Leita" gave you an amber teething necklace that really seems to work and is so pretty too. You are starting to eat more table foods and so far you like everything. You drink juice from a sippy cup and your really good at it too. I can't believe how much you have grown and how sweet you are. What a blessing you are to your mommy and daddy. I know I thank the Lord everyday for the blessing you are to me.


Sitting with my pretty mommy.





I am now way bigger than my Frog Prince.








Did you know that I am 10 whole months old, Froggie??





He is so funny! He just cracks me up!!!

Choices We Make...

I watched this video and was just stunned by it's volume of information. I work in the food industry. I buy food, I cook it and I eat it. I even grow some on my own and help my daddy out in his garden. This video really opened my eyes about food choices we need to make. I know it has changed how I am going to be purchasing food and on the the things I will be preparing my family. Especially Piper. Megan has told me about chemically engineered food systems and seed systems and how she is against them. She is all organic about her agriculture and really supports the local organic farms and organizations. I am jumping on board with her after watching this. Watch and then decide what choice you will make...