Practicing the Presence

I receive several different emails from Crosswalk.com and today's was "Upwords from Max Lucado." The title of it was Practicing the Presence. I think that's pretty practical because I definitely have to think about God and make choices every day. It's not like I always get up and bam there He is. Now I know He is with me every day and He will never leave me or forsake me; it's just some days I tend to go my own way and think my own thoughts and leave Him out of my life. That is until I get in a jam or something upsetting happens and then I cry out to Him. I love the days I wake up and my first thought is, "Good morning, Lord." I love the days when He gives me a song to sing.

I used to never sing out loud because I don't have a good voice. But now I can't help it. I love Him and I have to proclaim it sometimes. I want to be in His presence much more than I am now. I'm afraid the beginning of school has altered my thought process somewhat. I have so many more things added to my schedule and to get stressed out over. Stressing out is definitely a signal that I need Him. I need to Practice the Presence.

Hannah and I made an out of town trip yesterday afternoon. She has wanted a digital camera for a long time and that was her birthday request for November. Best Buy had the very camera she wanted $30 cheaper than Wal-Mart. She wanted to take a photography class in enrichment classes and needed a camera to do so. She decided she needed her birthday gift early. I needed some things from Sam's Club so off we went.

So now I'll have pictures I can steal for my blog. Almost as good as having my own~!

Fresh Creamery Butter

I have actually cooked breakfast the past two mornings. I said this morning I kinda felt like a pioneer woman. Never mind that the pancakes yesterday were Hungry Jack, although I did add eggs and oil. That counts for something. This morning it was Blueberry Cheesecake and Poppy Seed muffins. Even though they were packaged I had to reach inside the refrigerator and get the eggs and milk, open the package, and mix them up. On her way out the door to work, as she grabbed some hot muffins, I asked Rebekah if she wanted some "fresh creamery butter" to go with them.

Our family seems to find lines from movies that we really like. The "fresh creamery butter" comes from "Kate and Leopold" and "These mashed potatoes are soo creamy" comes from "While You Were Sleeping." Our family also likes mashed potatoes.........the kind you actually grow in the ground, peel, and cook. None of those instant ones for us. Now I don't actually plant them, weed them, or dig them, but I do go grocery shopping in search of them.

I told the kids this morning that they could have a "normal" family where I went to work. Ben smiled and told me that we were normal, that the others were weird. (DISCLAIMER: If you are one of the "weird" families I in no way intend to judge or condemn you. I am merely talking about a conversation our family had this morning.)

Later I got to thinking about a Glen Campbell song, "Dreams of an Everyday Housewife." Now this doesn't exactly fit me because I never had anyone I almost married. I married my one true love. But I do have the wrinkles that weren't there yesterday; or maybe they were........yeah, actually they WERE there yesterday.

All in all, God has exceeded even my own expectations. I never expected to have five kids, home school them, and a dog in the house. I'm glad we're normal.

My Epiphany

I had an epiphany this morning. To make my point I'm including the definition.

3 a (1) : a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature (Toilet tissue is really important to me.) or meaning of something (2) : an intuitive grasp of reality through something (We are almost out of this essential product) (as an event) usually simple and striking (3) : an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure (Do you realize that people actually used old catalogs for this need????) b : a revealing scene or moment

Now I realize I'm not that old, but we actually had outhouses when I was young. My aunt had one even much longer than most people. As a child I wasn't allowed to use the ones at our house. They had REALLY deep holes and my parents didn't want to risk losing me down the toilet. But my aunt's wasn't made that way. I could actually go out to her back yard, turn the little board nailed on the front to open the door, go inside, and you know........ I thought it was so neat to be able to do that. Now I didn't have to use the catalog (or if I did I don't remember). Or maybe it was so painful I have pushed it into the back recesses of my mind.

Anyway, for some strange reason I was extremely grateful for toilet tissue today. Weird, huh??

Grace Upon Grace

From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. John 1:16 (NIV)

I am so thankful for God's undeserved grace, and for the way He extends it to me through others. I had signed up for on-line banking and receive alerts if our balance goes under $100.

Well, I got one of those email alerts this morning. Right after getting one for insufficient funds. I frantically transferred some funds from the other account and began the job of balancing the checkbook to see where I had erred. I had gotten the statement yesterday, but because it was the first day of school I never got around to it. Big mistake~!

It all began a couple of weeks ago when I forgot to record a debit transaction. Now I always (or so I thought) write down my debit amounts before I even use my debit card. The one time I don't I get into trouble.

I went to the bank and talked to this very nice lady. While looking at our account she said that we have been customers for over 20 years and she would reverse the insufficient funds charges which totaled $64.00. Now I would have been ecstatic if she had offered to take away one of them. But both?? It was indeed my mistake, but she showed mercy to me. Undeserved mercy.

It was my fault. I screwed up. I fell short.

I wanted to weep in front of her. Instead I came home and wrote her a very nice thank you note. I see Jesus in all of it. Grace upon grace.

Forever the Optimist

We started school several hours ago. It is going great~! It will be an awesome year filled with its own set of challenges and victories. Every year is different. Every year is a year closer to the end of my career as a homeschooling mother. I have had several people ask me, "What will you do when you are finished homeschooling?"

Right now I think I'll take a ten year vacation and then maybe look for a part

time job. Of course by that time no one will want to hire a sixty something ex-homeschooling mom who hasn't worked in over 40 years~! If they still have door greeters at Wal-Mart I may have to consider that.

Another option would be to take college algebra and see if I could pass it. Or maybe not. I have come to believe that some people really do get it. I'm just not one of them. I can learn how to work the problems, but it just doesn't stick. By the time the next child needs my help I'm almost back at square one. But on the bright side I am getting better at it. I'm just a slow learner. Thank God for HomeSat teachers who actually understand what they are doing~!

Another great thing about the first day of school is that there is not usually much homework to check. Maybe I'll find time to clean our bathroom. I'm sure there's a white tub underneath all that grime. And for those who are interested I counted the number of loads of laundry I did the past 6 days. They totaled seventeen. That is not counting the ones that I didn't personally do. I'm not one to take credit for something I didn't do.

Precious Pupp

From the website listed below:
Another classic Hanna Barbera cartoon from 1965, part of The Atom Ant Show.
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v814737hn4skwYy?searchId=9185068264072094330&rank=0

Laughs