the cost of sleep

After only sleeping about three hours last night and waking up feeling awful, I called our NP to see if I could get an appointment. Thankfully she was able to see me. This is after finishing my first round of antibiotics several days ago. So after paying for a shot, a new round of antibiotics, and narcotic cough medicine I came home, took all my medicine like a good girl, and slept for about three and a half hours.

I have one thing to say about all this: It was the bet $74 dollar nap I've ever had. And worth every cent of it.

text of my life

Pastor Paul sent us a prayer that he was praying for us today and a scripture to go with it. I really wanted to go to Life Group tonight, but instead I spent about six hours coughing my head off. It seems I couldn't breathe without coughing. I asked Donald to take notes for me and Connie sent me an encouraging email.

Before he went to sleep Donald told me to steam up the bathroom and stay in there a bit and I did. It really seemed to help me, but after coughing so long it is hard to breathe and I can't sleep. I keep singing this song in my mind and decided to get up and seek God.....

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord

Open the eyes of my heart

I want to see You

I want to see You

(Open the Eyes of My Heart; Michael W. Smith)

How often do I "see" but not "see." I really want God to open the eyes of my heart so I can see Him and His ways. Here are some verses about seeing.

Hagar:

Genesis 21:19
Just then God opened her eyes. She looked. She saw a well of water. She went to it and filled her canteen and gave the boy a long, cool drink.

Moses to the Israelites:

Deuteronomy 29:4
But God didn't give you an understanding heart or perceptive eyes or attentive ears until right now, this very day.

David's prayer in song:

2 Samuel 22:25
God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.

Elisha's prayer for his servant:

II Kings 6:17

Then Elisha prayed, "O God, open his eyes and let him see." The eyes of the young man were opened and he saw. A wonder! The whole mountainside full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha!

Psalms 18:24
God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.

2 Samuel 22:25 and Psalms 18:24 are the same in the NIV also. This is my prayer to God; this is what I desire. He has rewritten many of the words in my life already, but there are oh, so many more He wants to rewrite. He is life; there is none besides Him.

Deuteronomy 4:35
You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other. (NIV)

for lack of anything better

I just bought a printer cartridge for $8.45 on eBay and that includes shipping charges. Isn't that awesome? I love a good deal~!

Ben is feeling better. He's vertical today so that's a good sign. He may go to his lab at the junior college if he still doesn't have a temperature this afternoon. I took Rebekah by the rent a car place this morning cause her car is in the shop due to a bumper bender a few weeks ago. No one was hurt and that's the main thing. I am grateful that the other person had insurance and it wasn't a problem in filing a claim. We have an excellent body repair shop though and they know us by name since we've given them quite a lot of business the past few years. It's a blessing to have people you can trust.

And now, a word from our sponsor.................(sounds better than "because this post is so boring")

Everything of importance has been said before by somebody who did not discover it.
Alfred North Whitehead (1861 - 1947)

A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory.

Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858 - 1919)

where would i be?

I'm still (cough, cough, cough) around. Not much going on , (cough, cough) unless I mention that (cough) Ben has the flu. And I'm still coughing. At least I haven't coughed my tonsils out......yet. I think I may have pulled a muscle in my chest though and the top of my head has felt like it was going to explode during each of my coughing fits. I wonder if you can die during one of these episodes; no, I don't think I really want to know. Right now I'll just focus on breathing.

Poor Ben, he feels so bad. Our NP called in some Tamiflu for him. I hope it works. He still has temperature; I woke him up for his medicine and more Tylenol and hopefully he can get some more sleep. He has to eat when he takes the flu medicine so I made him breakfast and served him in bed. In between coughing fits that is. No Chemistry today.

I have finished my antibiotics. I guess I'll see if I need more when I take Daniel in to have his staples removed later this week. He has been such a trooper. Either he just doesn't complain or his head really isn't bothering him that much.

With me it's a different story. I do not believe in suffering in silence. If I feel bad I want you to know about it. I'm sure you have a hard time telling that from my blog!

We appreciate your prayers. February has been a hard month for us. God is still in control and taking care of things. Here's my song for today.......

Andrae Crouch - I Don't Know Why Jesus Loves Me

I Don't Know Why Jesus Loved Me

i Don't Know Why He Cared

i Don't Know Why He Sacrificed His Life

oh, But I'm Glad, So Glad He Did

he Left His Mighty Throne In Glory

to Bring To Us Redemption's Story

then He Died But He Rose Again

oh, But I'm Glad, So Glad He Did.

Where Would I Be If Jesus Didn't Love Me?

where Would I Be If Jesus Didn't Care?

where Would I Be If He Hadn't Sacrificed His Life

oh, But I'm Glad, So Glad He Did

this ice cream is so good

Today is going to be one of those comfortable days for me. I'm still coughing from bronchitis and stayed home from church this morning. I actually didn't miss it at all; I slept until noon~! This afternoon I'm staying in my pajamas and watching my NYPD Blue dvd's and later on the Dallas Mavericks game.

I'm beginning to get adjusted to Jason Kidd; he seems like he may actually help my team. I would not make a good coach or owner. I would keep a team because I liked the people. I don't like it when they trade someone I like. It wasn't that I didn't like JK, I was just used to Devin and really liked him.

Donald has gone to Sonic to get me ice cream. He's such a sweetie.

Yesterday Daniel was several hours away playing paintball. We get a call from his friend at the ER that he was having staples put in his head. Evidently he had tried jumping through a hole in a brick wall and because of limited vision from his mask he had hit his head and Aaron had taken him to the ER. I could tell something was going on and it was about Daniel, so of course immediately I begin trusting God.........not hardly.

That's what I should of done, but my motherly instincts took over before I had time to choose how I would react. Donald told me he was okay. I thought maybe he was telling me that so I would leave him alone so he could hear. All reason goes out the window with me at times~! He really was okay though. They wrapped his head all the way around with a huge white bandage and it looked like a rather impressive injury. I know God isn't upset with me because I didn't trust Him at first. I chose to trust Him after my emotions settled down a bit and He understands.

Aaron got some really neat pictures of Daniel on the stretcher in the ER. He had his camo on and they were pretty cool. Daniel probably won't want me to put them on my blog so you'll just have to believe me when I say they looked really great.

Bethany is a lot like me. She was out running errands when she found out Daniel was in the ER. She told Rebekah she was going to the hospital. Rebekah told her he wasn't here, but in Antlers. Her response: "I'm going to Antlers. Where's Antler's???"

It's okay, Bethany. I totally understand.

no title needed

Persistently Tenacious

Break time.........only a short one. I'm behind in grading schoolwork, as usual. I had a sinus infection last month, and I don't think I got completely over it. Then some of the kids got the crud that is going around, and as usual, I picked it up also. At least maybe I got a head start on it as I started antibiotics yesterday.

Daniel found this cartoon and while I don't think an electric razor is a cell phone, I do have a story. Several months ago Daniel bought a cell phone and while adding his phone to our account I found that I could get a better price on text messaging.

I am always looking for good deals, so this one was a no brainer. Unlimited text messaging on 5 phones for $20 a month. We had been paying $30 a month for unlimited on 3 phones so I asked for the new plan.

Now of course, as usual, anytime we make a change on our plan, it takes several months to correct the problems they create each and every time I have done this. Instead of $20 for the text messaging, our first bill after the change charged us $20 EACH on all five phones. That was $100 instead of the $20 advertised. So I called and the person on the other end couldn't figure out why it was charging us on each phone and had to refer it to someone else. It was so frustrating, but I don't quit and I'm certainly not going to pay $80 extra any day.

After finding and correcting the problem I was told I would receive a credit on the next bill, after I paid them for charging me too much. That really got me going and after more calls and talking on-line to a service rep I received the credit before I paid the bill.

This past month our bill was only $20.06. They had given us several credits for something and after talking on-line again I decided just to accept it and let it pay for all the hours I have spent on the phone trying to get their mistakes corrected.

I think a good word to describe me is tenacious......

Main Entry:
te·na·cious
Pronunciation:
\tə-ˈnā-shəs\
Function:
adjective
Etymology:
Latin tenac-, tenax tending to hold fast, from tenēre to hold
Date:
1607

I believe the second meaning describes me quite adequately.

2 a: persistent in maintaining, adhering to, or seeking something valued or desired

Ecclesiastes

Pastor Paul asked us to read through the book of Ecclesiastes. I'm so proud of myself; it's only Tuesday and I've already read it. :o))))))))) [This is a really big grin.] Chapter 3 is probably the most well known, but there is a lot of good stuff in the other chapters. Here are my favorites (The Message).


3:14 I've also concluded that whatever God does, that's the way it's going to be, always. No addition, no subtraction. God's done it and that's it. That's so we'll quit asking questions and simply worship in holy fear. 15 Whatever was, is. Whatever will be, is. That's how it always is with God.


5:2 Don't shoot off your mouth, or speak before you think. Don't be too quick to tell God what you think he wants to hear. God's in charge, not you - the less you speak, the better.


7:14 On a good day, enjoy yourself; On a bad day, examine your conscience. God arranges for both kinds of days So that we won't take anything for granted. Stay in Touch with Both Sides


7:29 Yet I did spot one ray of light in this murk: God made men and women true and upright; we're the ones who've made a mess of things.


8:16 When I determined to load up on wisdom and examine everything taking place on earth, I realized that if you keep your eyes open day and night without even blinking, 17 you'll still never figure out the meaning of what God is doing on this earth. Search as hard as you like, you're not going to make sense of it. No matter how smart you are, you won't get to the bottom of it.


9:7 Seize life! Eat bread with gusto, Drink wine with a robust heart. Oh yes - God takes pleasure in your pleasure!

chauffeur anyone??

Where to, madam??
Bright simply adores Bethany!
Who says dogs don't grin????
No, I haven't just asked him for another dog! (See entry below.)

In need of a friend

Bethany and I have decided that Bright needs a friend. I think this one would do just fine. However we have a slight problem....Donald.
Now Donald doesn't appreciate our pets as much as the rest of us. Bright has won him over somewhat, but don't tell him I said that. I really was worried when he quit traveling several years ago. We had gotten Bright after he started traveling, so it was quite different when he was home all the time and not just on weekends.

Bright loved it when he came home; Donald would have liked him much more if he had been outdoors. Donald tried to buy him a doghouse at Sam's Club. I told him if he bought it he had better like it because he would be the one sleeping in it. He decided not to purchase it. Bright is definitely a "people dog" and wants to be with one of us most of the time. Usually someone is here with him so he isn't alone for long periods of time. I have to admit I take him (Bright) with me when I run errands as long as I don't have to leave him in the van. We went to Sherman several weeks ago and Rebekah literally was covered with dog hair from where Bright had been. Each time we would exit the van I would have to roll her clothes with the brush to remove the dog hair. I definitely have changed from the uptight person I used to be.

I really would like to have another dog, but I guess it's not gonna happen any time soon. I really think Bright would enjoy having a pal though.

a tribute

There is much I could write about today. I could rant about the Dallas Mavericks' trying to trade several of their best players for one Jason Kidd. I am glad Devean George is blocking that one; I hope he continues to do so. I could write about our special meal that Bethany and Hannah cooked last night, and the good movie we watched afterward with Charity and Josiah. I could write about working in the back yard and Bright running around like a mad dog. I could even verbalize about algebra, but I'm sure you are sick and tired of that as am I.

What I really want to say is something I have thought about all week. You see, one of the members of our church body died last Saturday. Our pastor talked about Richard during our Sunday service and really helped us with accepting his death. The funeral service was Wednesday; Pastor Paul did an awesome service there also. They were both perfect. Richard would of loved both of them!

Richard was.......well, Richard. He had a huge heart and always came in with a smile. Even when he had good reason not to. You see his leg had been broken in a farming accident and he was in a lot of pain. God was healing his leg though and we were all excited, especially Richard. He was always more concerned with others than himself. He had met a lovely lady and their relationship was progressing. Robbin came to the funeral and Connie and I were blessed to get to know her just a little. She is an awesome lady and we can understand why Richard was excited about their relationship. More importantly, he was growing leaps and bounds in his relationship with the Lord. God was working in his life; many exciting things were happening for him.

Then God takes him home unexpectedly. Why, Lord? Some may say it's not right to ask God. I say God understands and isn't offended. I think He realizes it's part of our grieving process. Part of our body is missing and God understands the void.

I Corinthians chapter 12.......
12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

The grief we all feel is for us. Richard is with God. If any of the saints needed help, I'm sure he has already taken care of it. That's Richard.

purple flowers

One afternoon this week Bethany brought me this "flower." I absolutely love them. I think they may be called "henbit." Since I know my weeds almost as well as my flowers I could be mistaken. No matter what they are they are God's creation and simply beautiful to me. When the kids were little they would run in with handfuls of these and sometimes yellow dandelions and bestow them upon me. I would always put them in water and keep them as long as they would last. I love the memories this flower and the grin on Bethany's face brought back!

She was laughing and asked me why I didn't tell them they were weeds? She also said they always felt sorry for our neighbors because they didn't have "flowers" in their yard. So here it is years later and we still have them in yet another yard.

I laughed about this because our neighbor's yard beside us always looked like something out of "Better Homes and Gardens." Right beside this awesome view was our yard. Well at least we kept it mowed and the trash picked up. Move forward a little over a dozen years to another yard. We still have more weeds than grass. At least we are consistent!

more pi?

Thanks, Erica, for the quote you left on your blog for me. http://urkasmusings.com/

Love is like pi - natural, irrational, and very important.- Lisa Hoffman

That made me start thinking that there are probably more where that came from. I don't have much time right now since we have to work on algebra (no pun intended), but here a few that I quickly found.

In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
Johann von Neumann (1903 - 1957)

I have hardly ever known a mathematician who was capable of reasoning.
Plato (427 BC - 347 BC)

Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true.
Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), "Geometry and Experience", January 27, 1921

can i think of something else, please?

For some of us, Algebra can actually cause this to happen!

(Thank you, Pam, for the picture :o)

Offerings

Our pastor has been speaking on praise; he has been encouraging us to praise God in our problems. Sometimes that is very hard to do. At least it has been for me. It's probably because it is such a powerful weapon against our enemy. (1 Peter 5:8-9, The Message) Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You're not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It's the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith.

I don't know about you, but I get bogged down and sidetracked over so many things that don't
really matter. After I recognize what's happening it's easier to focus on what's really important,
and that always leads me back to God.

Pastor Paul gave us the "5 R's" a few weeks ago. He also told us that "praise is a death blow to the flesh."

1.) Remind myself about God's exalted position.

2.) Remember what God has done for me in the past.

3.) Resolve God's enabling power; I am commited to you in the good times and the bad.

4.) Report identify the problem; don't downplay the situation. Be honest, God knows already.

5.) Rely give it over to God, stop trusting in myself

I've had quite a few opportunities to do this and haven't. But that's okay. God still loves me and isn't down on me. He is waiting for me to give my problems to Him and start over. I'm glad my God is a God of new beginnings and second chances.


Your love, oh Lord
Reaches to the heavens
Your faithfulness stretches to the sky
And Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains
Your justice flows like the ocean’s tides
And I will lift my voice
To worship You, my King
I will find my strength
In the shadow of Your wings
Your love, oh Lord
Reaches to the heavens
Your faithfulness stretches to the sky



(Third Day Offerings Album: Your Love Oh Lord; This has got to be one of the best worship albums I have ever heard. I listened to it for months on end and still love it.)

come again

Donald asked me an important question earlier. The question was, "What do you want for Thanksgiving?"

"Thanksgiving?" I asked, quite perplexed.

"Yes, Thanksgiving. What do you want?" he asked again.

"Thanksgiving?"

Taking his eyes off the game that was on TV, he then said, "Er, ah........Valentine's Day. What do you want? Chocolate?"

I told him a new chair or dining set. I'm not holding my breath though. It's still quite a while till Thanksgiving.

unbelievable but true

For those of you who could care less about basketball you probably want to move on to another blog today. But I just have to comment. What in the world is Phoenix thinking in trading Shawn Marion for Shaquille O'Neal???????? Now I have never been a fan of Shaquille, but really, how in the world do the Suns' think he can keep up with their run and gun style of basketball?? He does have a pretty big ego, but I'm not sure that will get him up the court any faster. Here are a couple of quotes from him during the news conference introducing him as the newest member of the team.....

Someone asked if he knew he looked good in purple.
"I already knew that," O'Neal said. "But thank you very much."

"I'm very upset," he said. (about criticism of the trade) "You just don't really want to get me upset. When I'm upset, I'm known to do certain things -- like win championships."

We'll see on that one.

"I think with the addition of me it gives the guys the extra that we can make it," O'Neal said. Maybe he could sell some of his inflatable ego??

He will energize the locker room, he said, "just by being me."

And finally my favorite......."If you want to take me in a room and examine me yourself, you could see for my age I have a fabulous body." Ah, no thanks; not interested in doing that.

Okay, so I left part of the quotes off. You can read his full comments here if you are so inclined.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/basketball/nba/02/07/shaq.suns.ap/index.html

Maybe in a few years after I'm finished homeschooling I can become a sports writer. I am pretty opinionated. The only good thing about this is that Phoenix got him and not Dallas.

Now you may be asking why in the world I care about this?? Because Steve Nash is one of my favorite basketball players and used to play with Dallas, until the Suns paid him a huge amount of money that Dallas wouldn't match. So yeah, I do love watching the Suns play.....at least I used to before they traded Marion and got O'Neal.

Go Mavs!!!!

Nonnegotiable

"God's love for you is not dependent on how you look, how you think, how you act, or how perfect you are. His love is absolutely nonnegotiable and nonreturnable. Ours is a faithful God." (taken from "Everyday Blessings" by Max Lucado)

"His love has taken over our lives; God's faithful ways are eternal." Psalm 117:2 (The Message)

Isn't this wonderful? I'm not anywhere close to being perfect, I don't always act the way I should or think the way I should, and my looks certainly won't get me very far. I'm glad I'm His.

Ready, Set, Go

Well I wanted this last, but downloaded it last. I don't have time to redo them all so I have decided to leave it. I took older pictures of everyone (Donald and I when we were engaged and the kids when they were little and made black and white pictures and framed them in black.)Rebekah helped me hang them on the wall beside our bed. Our bedroom is still "a work in progress" but at least I am making progress.


The mirrors make it look like I have two towel racks and crosses; there are just one of each though. Didn't the construction crew do a great job? Actually I want to frame my two large mirrors with moulding painted white to match my cabinets. I have found what I want. I will get around to it soon (translated when I get around to it.)

These are Donald and me and our parents (and his siblings). Donald is in the one at the top in the middle and he is one of the twins on the right or middle; his mom wasn't sure which one is Donald and which one is Ronald. Donald's parents are on the bottom right. I am on the bottom left and it is my dad beside me. He served in WWII and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. My parents are the small ones at the top.

Hannah always sees something in a different way when she takes photos. Thanks for the wonderful pictures, sweetie.

I only have two color pictures on my walls in our bedroom. The one above we found at Burlington Coat Factory. I love daffodils as we had tons every spring when I was at home. The black frames and reddish color make it perfect for over our bed. If you look closely in the bottom left of it you can see Hannah taking the picture for me. Awesome!

This is the other "color" in our bedroom. It is favorite pictures of our kids when they were little. Benjamin (bottom left) always loved Big Red. He wore his cap backwards and had a red moustache. The boys always wore a cap or hat of some kind along with their boots and holsters. I was one of those mothers who said her boys would not play with guns. I soon learned anything could be a gun. I have a friend who said her sons would bite their toast into the shape of a gun and "shoot" each other across the table. God puts it in a man to protect and I soon let them have their toy guns.

No ram for God

We are going through this book in Sunday School. Sunday's lesson was about Abraham and Isaac and their trip up the mountain where Abraham was going to sacrifice his son. John Fischer told the story and you could envision the father and his son on their trek and just about see the expressions on their faces. It was almost as if I were hearing this story for the first time. That's a good thing in my opinion. Sometimes when going over something we've already read we just see it the way we've always seen it in the past.

He made a comment that there was "no ram for God." He was referring to the ram He provided for Abraham to sacrifice in place of Isaac. Then he reminded us there was "no ram for God." When God's only Son, Jesus, was sacrificed for our sins, there was no ram to take His place. All of this was planned by God's before the foundation of the world. How it must have grieved God for His Son to have to suffer.

Ephesians 2
4 But God is rich in mercy because of his great love for us. 5 We were dead because of our failures, but he made us alive together with Christ. (It is God's kindness that saved you.) 6 God has brought us back to life together with Christ Jesus and has given us a position in heaven with him. 7 He did this through Christ Jesus out of his generosity to us in order to show his extremely rich kindness in the world to come. 8 God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift from God. 9 It's not the result of anything you've done, so no one can brag about it. (God's Word Version)

No ram for God, but a Saviour for us.

Eli Who??

I have a new team. I just screamed myself hoarse during the Super Bowl; I don't even really like football all that much. The New York Giants just won!!!!! They have officially been "my team" the past two games they've played. Before then I had heard of Eli Manning a time or two but that was just about it. I don't know any of their other players. It doesn't matter. I chose them because they were the underdog. Key word: were.....Now they are the NFL Champions.

Retro

Look what I found when redoing our bathroom. This 70's wallpaper was behind our large mirror. You can kinda see what my cabinets looked like. Now they are a beautful white with new hardward just like my kitchen! Donald put the doors back on last night. Pictures will follow when my ace photographer gets home. Just wanted to let you know I am still around; I have just been busy!