When dreams come true!

I am so blessed...I have a little girl to do dishes with me! *sigh*

I wash....she dries!

A Pink Sunrise for Emma

ARRR Matey Museum Day!

Wednesday was National Talk Like A Pirate Day....don't ask me who comes up with this stuff.  Anyhew...the Children's Museum of Indy got into the action...and so did we!

MomE and Emma got our faces painted...with glitter glitter everywhere...which you can't see from this picture but trust me...is going to be all over for a looonnnggg while!

This is what we call a back seat driver!  HAHA!

Caleb LOVES the shipwreck of Captain Kidd!

Gotta ride the Carousel!  Too fun!!  Noticed for the first time that all the horses have REAL horsehair tails!

Man, she's getting some seriously BIG FEET!

and...she's a pretty good sketch artist!

Cutest Pirate I ever saw...hehehe!  I mean...ARRRRR

Our 2 at the Zoo!

Poems and Pie

Apple pie without the cheese...is like the kiss without the squeeze!  

That's for everyone else who likes a slice of sharp cheddar with their pie!  Delicious!  I never realized this was a "new england thing" until I was in college and a few of my friends were truly horrified by the thoughts this poem conjured up.  Be brave and try it...you might be surprised!

Very Merry Unbirthday Hodgepodge

 

1. What's the best and worst thing thing about growing older?

All the people who tell you what things are going to go down hill...literally and otherwise.  I mean, thanks for the encouragement.  I've really appreciated the one positive comment I received last year...She said, "Looking back my 30s were the BEST...a great time of maturing in the best possible ways...socially, spiritually, emotionally.  But...it just gets better from there!"

2.   Autumn arrives this week in the Northern Hemisphere...what one thing do you love most about the fall season?
Sweaters!!

3.  Speaking of fall...pumpkin seems to be flavoring everything these days-are you a fan?   What's your favorite pumpkin flavored food or beverage?
I love Starbuck's Pumpkin Lattes!  Or pumpkin bread, muffins, pie....

4.  Since we're on the subject of fall...what's the worst fall you've ever taken?
When I was in college I gave campus tours.  One day, all dressed up and wearing heals, I stepped on a patch of ice and made one of those perfect cheerleader v-s in the air before landing HARD on my bum.  I thought I was paralyzed for a minute...but embarrassment quickly took over and I got up and continued with the tour.  I did break my tailbone and carted a donut pillow with me to class for a long while.

5.  If you could own a prop from any film what would you choose?
Something from the Sound of Music...hmmm....perhaps that fabulous puppet stage!  But, where would I put it!?  Something smaller...hmmm...the guitar they used when they sang.

6. What's the most interesting word you've read or learned in the past week?
A polemic is a contentious argument that is intended to establish the truth of a specific belief and the falsity of the contrary belief. Polemics are mostly seen in arguments about very controversial topics.

This word has shown up twice in the John Macarthur study I'm doing on Colossians.  He also uses the word duped...which I find hilarious.  A mixture of old and new words.  Slang and serious.  Certainly keeps you on your toes.

7. When was the last time you locked yourself out of your house, car, or office?  Was it a big deal?
When my sweet girl was a baby (under a year) we were moving to Indy and I would come on weekends to be with Loverbrains here in Indy.  One day I was headed home to get our house ready for a showing...and I put my purse with hotel keys and car keys on the front seat...and pushed the door shut.  As it shut I realized I'd locked the baby in the car and not only was I locked out of the car but my phone was also in my purse too...and I couldn't get into the hotel to get help....neither did I want to leave my baby.  But...I ran and pounded on the door of the hotel...a cleaning lady let me in...I called 911 and reported the situation...and told the dispatcher that there was NO WAY I was staying on the phone with her...I was going back out to stand by my car with my precious baby in it.  The officer came in under 5 minutes...and as he got out of his car he said, "Well, I'd ask you how you're doing but I think I know the answer!"  They quickly opened my car...and after holding her and calming us both down I plunked her back in the seat for the ride home.  I called Darren at his new job and said, "Well...the good news is that Indy police are FAST!"  Hahaha...  Phew...

8.  Insert your own random thought here.  Emma-bean now wants to be a lunch lady.  She says they are kind and make food for children.

Brisk Walk....ahhhhh!

I love this cooler weather...

...and the fact that my Sweet Boobahs ride their bikes FAST...so...

...we can take a BRISK walk...almost a jog even!  Hahaha!

Look at that lovely sky...God is good!!

Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth!"

Noodle Fencing!

We live in a state of hilarity...what can I say!?

ON GUARD, my good man....

He's got him on the run!  Touche!

Singing Saturday

This song just floats through my mind as a prayer all day long...  

 Out on the farthest edge 

There in the silence 

You were there 

My faith was torn to shreds 

Heart in the balance 

And You were there 

Always faithful, 

always good 

You still have me

I wish for SMELLO-BLOGGING!

Apple Dumplings

Apple Pie Filling

Apple Butter

Apple Smells steaming up my house!

Apple Stories

Apple Lovin's

TRUE comfort

I recently read a great blog post, Pacifying Lies and the Sympathizing Truth.  I found it so very encouraging...in light of my own personal attempts to share the "TRUTH in love"...and nothing but the TRUTH!

This has really put me in a pickle a few times recently...biggest on my radar is dealing with a new believer friend of mine who's grandparent passed away.  According to fruit shown (sinful lifestyle, negative rejection of the gospel, etc.) it is highly unlikely that they were saved...despite the love of my friend and her attempts to share Christ with them.  Like Bekah said in her post, it is so easy to want to say something trite and pacify the situation.  Hey, it's uncomfortable, right?  When a saved loved one dies we are sad but we "don't grieve as those with no hope" because we know we'll see them again some day in heaven.  I Thes. 4:13 But with the death of the unsaved...we know we will not...and that they have rejected God's grace.

NOTE:  I am aware of the dangers of being judgmental of people's hearts...I looked at some forum threads dealing with this issue and found it disappointing how it was dealt with, even and especially on fundamental threads.  Bottom line for me:  Christians are known by their fruit (that they show signs of the Holy Spirit living in them! Luke 6:44)  AND...the Bible is very clear that some people go to heaven and some people go to hell.  Matthew 25.  All roads don't lead to heaven.  God made an even better Way.)

I first pointed out to my friend that God is the JUST JUDGE.  Perfectly Just.  Genesis 18:25, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?"  This is a great comfort.  God is the Sovereign Judge of Righteousness...full of grace...abounding in love.  It's because he's so fair and just that he offers a WAY our of sin at all.  As I pointed out to my poor grieving sister...we can't make this choice for anyone else...if they went into eternity without the hope of Christ...that was their choice in spite of the grace offered. 

Someday John 16:22..."So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you."

In the meantime...I tried to encourage her with something I'd been reading in Romans 11 about how we Gentiles were grafted in...because of God's mercy...it is a crazy mystery in a lot of ways...I love verse 33, "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!"

I also tried to encourage her with 1 Peter 5:7-11, "casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen."

Honestly, I was just going to share the first part about casting your anxieties on him because he cares for you...but I realized that she needed to be encouraged to stand firm in her baby faith.  I encouraged her to study God's character.  He makes no mistakes.  Only He can restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Please chip in...if anyone's reading this...I'd love to hear more Scripture I could share with my dear friend.  Remember...nothing trite or fluffy...about God needing angels in heaven...blah blah blechk... What does the BIBLE say!?

Caffeinated Randomness: SOUL?

I haven't shared my caffeinatedly-random thoughts lately.  Only one today, really. 
 I had a thought at a traffic stop today.  You see...I was behind a red Kia Soul.

Yeah, what color is your soul?
LOL...see?  Random.

Yeah, pretty sure that I'd pick a WHITE one...well, maybe SILVER or GOLD...

but NOT BLACK (sin)...GREEN (jealousy)...RED (anger, devil)...YELLOW (coward)....

Now, if you have a Kia Soul that isn't white, silver or gold.  Just laugh okay!?  I'm not serious...well...about your CAR...

but...consider your real SOUL...

/sōl/

A person's moral or emotional nature or sense of identity.

Mark 12:30, "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’"

Psalm 104:1, "Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty,"

Warp and Woof?

Recently, I came across the following sentence, "to obey in all circumstances and to be pleasing to Him in everything until this attitude has become the WARP AND WOOF as well as the root of one's entire existence."  I gathered from the context that it was something foundational...but later I looked it up!

Warp and Woof:  The essential foundation or base of any structure or organization; from
terms of weaving, in which the warp (the threads that run lengthwise) and
the woof (the threads that run across) make up the fabric.

Now, I have heard people use the good ole tapestry illustration...you know the one...God is the weaver...life is the tapestry...He uses bright colors (good times) and dark colors (trials)...He sees the pattern (big picture, omniscient)...I've even heard the one where we see the backside (which is ugly and confusing) and until we get to heaven we don't see the front (which is organized and beautiful).  Notice...although these are all interesting and inspiring thoughts, they are not connected to any Scripture.  I'm becoming more and more skeptical of such things.

So, I did a little study of weaving in the Bible.  The only loom I could think of was in Judges 16 with Delilah and Samson.  You remember, she weaves his hair in and he wakes up and yanks the pins and the loom up...it doesn't tame his strength.  Yeah, the point of that story is more about where that Strength comes from than about the weaving and loom.

I kept looking...and I came across Isaiah 38:12 ESV, "My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent; like a weaver I have rolled up my life; he cuts me off from the loom; from day to night you bring me to an end."  I kind of liked it in the NLT..."My life has been blown away like a shepherd's tent in a storm. It has been cut short, as when a weaver cuts cloth from a loom. Suddenly, my life was over."

Life is short...we need to make sure our foundation and base is full of obedience to the Weaver...because we will soon be snipped from the loom...complete in His intended purpose for our lives.

Job had the same idea, "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and they come to an end without hope."  Incidentally, there is no hope outside of Christ.  Col. 1:27 says, "To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

As I continued thinking on this...it occurred to me...one of my favorite Psalms 139 speaks of our being woven in our mother's womb.  "My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth."  We are currently praying for a little girl who suffered a tremendous 3 story fall...and last night her grandparents shared with us the miraculous wonder, not just of her being alive, but also how God is mending her little broken body.  It is amazing enough how our bodies are constructed...but seeing how it can mend itself after unspeakable trauma is amazing still!  Pray for little Kade...she has a long way to go and she's only 2.

He did weave me physically...but in every other way too.  He knew just what I'd be like.  He makes no mistakes.  His goodness and glory demand my obedience and worship.  Indeed, I want obedience to be the warp and woof of my entire life.

If you can think of other good "weaving" examples from the Bible...please share them with me.  I'd love to hear more.