Good Morning, Fish-Friends & Water

TRUE CONTENT-"Be content with your surroundings but not with yourself till you have made the most of them."

This morning has been a humorous one! At least it has been to me. I see things a little differently than some.

Tabby Cat was mewing at the window again this morning. Insisting to go out, and then come in, what a cat she is! My eldest child went to retrieve her and so came back to report the dining room was "all wet"!

The Man I live with was quick to run and check it out. I lie there in bed questioning all the possibilities, but calm enough to lie there still.

Again, my daughter came to report the live action in dramatic headlines: THE FISH TANK IS LEAKING! EVERYTHING’S WET! IT’S UNDER THE LIVING ROOM FLOOR!

I saw my husband pass through the hallway and gather some towels from the linen closet and bathroom. This must be seriously wet, I’m thinking. Finally my thoughts somehow gathered around to complete the following: I must help my husband.

I hopped out of bed, grabbed my shoes and tied them.

I walked in to see the action of flowing rivers and floating towels with my husband and daughter upon them. No such sight. Instead, however, I found about 1/3 of the dining room covered in water and as was said by my daughter, under the living room flooring! Oh my. My husband says to me, "Dearest love of my life, I cannot possibly dry anymore. We are out of towels and must needs do something!" Okay he didn’t quite say it like that, BUT THAT’S HOW I CHOSE TO HEAR IT.

Silly me, I’d just thrown my mop away and keep forgetting to fetch a new one! (This is okay because I used to towel mop and dry my floors for the first five years of our marriage. What can I say, I’m a survivor!) I retrieved last night’s laundry basket and fished out a few clean towels. I said, "Husband: fetch me the mop bucket rather quickly. We simply must wring out these towels so we can reuse them." My husband went to the garage and retrieved the mopping bucket. (Oh, it’s a fine one! It has two compartments, one for clean water and one for dirty water! )

I began to dry up the floor with my few clean towels and he began wringing out the ones he had just thrown onto the floor. They were sopping wet!

I lifted a few items to make sure it was dry beneath (this section of my dining room is also my office and work area. I keep file boxes, printer and computer there). After all dramatic work was complete; I stood back and marveled at the goodness of God. Nothing of importance was wet or damaged. Only one leg of my sewing table was dampened; nothing else. Even the walls were untouched!

The tank was not broken. My husband fiddled with a few things in the tank after I’d gone to bed last night. Somehow a hose disconnected itself and began ciphering the water out of the tank onto the floor. I’d heard a horrible story once of a woman who had one of those hoses spray water in her face and electrocute her so I’m delighted no one was hurt in this instance.

All of the drama had me laughing and skipping back to bed in the wee twilight hours for ‘just a few more minutes of rest’. (I already told you: I tend to see things a bit differently …)

Today’s to-do:

I have been going through my old data CDs this morning. They are perhaps six or seven years old. But that is what I will continue to do a bit this afternoon as well. In between jobs and visits to the hospital, that is. I am guessing this will take all day and maybe tomorrow considering I will be interrupted quite a bit for jobs and cooking. (And, of course, smoothies will have to be made. Who could possibly forget the smoothies?)

But what a job it is! Why didn’t I mark these? What was my problem? What would have been so difficult about marking and labeling CDs? Those are questions left unanswered this morning.

Happy Trailing!

Him bought me some wonderful flowers for my herb garden today!



This year I am growing my favorite herbs in containers! Him made me a raised flower bed that curves along the outside of our vegetable garden. This is a "shelf" for my flower pots containing the herbs!



I wanted something pretty to grow in the bed all around my containers. We found the perfect trailing perennials for that and we purchased them today!


Him bought me (pardon the english) 8 flowering plants in all:


3 Blue Emerald Creeping Phlox (the light purplish ones on the right and center)


2 Drummond's Pink Phlox (the larger pinkish ones bottom left)


2 Fort Hill Creeping Phlox (the smaller pinkish ones top left)


1 Scarlet Flame Creeping Phlox (the bright pink at the top center)



Mr Him also purchased three Herb Rosemary plants for my containers! I am so happy!

This has been a lot of fun for us-- working on this project. My husband is my best friend. I am so thankful that God has put us together. Like my phlox-delights-- we're just trailin' along beautifully!


"The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it." Proverbs 10:22


This project would be nothing without the LORD. He leads us and guides us every step of the way. He is what brings these beautiful and good things to pass. He is so good to us!


"Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established."
Proverbs 16:3

Information, Please

**This entry was first published without pictures on April 19, 2008 in our home school journal.**

The Lord laid it upon my heart to clear out the school shelf. I began working on it with a right heart - I had to have the mind of Jesus to do this. I'm a Keeper. I don't mean that I am a very special individual, I mean that I like to keep things that are good.

But then the LORD began showing me how to become selective and how to become focused - not all sprayed out.

I searched the book shelf and began tossing old text books we didn't use and any material I felt was contrary to the Standard Book, that is, God's Word.

I realized that I was in need of a new encylopedia set. So I asked God if He would send me one that was no more than ten years old (the areas we study right now are not extremely dated materials), was new, would fit on my living room bookshelf, and that would be beautifully bound like my small poetry books.

The shelf size is important to me. Most encyclopedias are very large - like a dictionary - and my living room bookshelf (built into the wall beside the fireplace) has shelves closer together; only books no larger than 10" tall can fit.

The week before last, our friends S and S called us to come pick up some discarded items for them. When we arrived, they asked me if I'd be interested in any encyclopedias. (They know we home school.) Naturally, I was very excited to see the books! They took me into a back bedroom and there were stacks of beautiful, large 1996 encyclopedias. They were not brand new, but I sure was grateful.

Then they showed me the other set. The box (the very box the set came in) was opened and there inside was a beautiful, brand new set of 1998 Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia. Ten years old. All but one book were still shrink-wrapped. The very first book had been opened, I suppose for previewing the set. The cover was a plush soft hardcover (if that makes sense); beautiful burgundy-brown. The tops of the pages are gold.

My God shall supply ALL your need ... And He will withhold NO good thing. I love my God!

**But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. Psalm 84:11**

NIV Life Application Study Bible

Not long ago, a friend of mine truly dedicated her life to the Lord. She had been saved for a while, but now came the time for her to live what she professed to believe.

Not being too familiar with the Bible, my friend asked the Lord for a Bible that she could understand easily and that would explain things to her simply.

A few days later, the Lord graciously blessed her through a friend of hers. That friend, led by God, gave my friend the NLT version of the Life Application Study Bible. She was thrilled and enjoyed it immensely! We were so happy for her.

Being students of the Word ourselves, I asked God for my own Life Application Study Bible, specifically a New International Version. I wanted a blue Bible because I think they are so pretty. Regular price for my request is anywhere from $60-$80.




Not long after the simple prayer, we were in one of our favorite shops. They have several used books there. Up on one of the book shelves was a near-new NIV Life Application Study Bible, navy blue. It had only a few small markings outlining a few verses. The price tag? $6.00--10% or less of the original price. :)

"...yet ye have not, because ye ask not."
James 4:2

"Maiden" Mothering

Try explaining to a chip-devouring, Dr Pepper-consuming, book-engulfing 14-year old girl (Sounds a lot like someone you used to know, huh?) that NOW is the training period for domestic skills needed in marriage. That was my job this morning as I discipled my young student in the ways of HOUSEHOLD DUTIES.

There were a few gasps and attempts of explanation as to WHY starting at home (of all places!) was a bad idea. But I held out and am almost certain to have scored a few points in the domestic department.

I gave her a take-home quiz to test her (late?) blooming domestic abilities. She had no good reasons that I haven't heard or lived through myself to NOT do (more than?) her share of keeping house. But it made me smile to hear them coming from someone else, nonetheless.

While I am thankful to God that He has given me a position of discipling the younger women, I cannot help but smile at the irony of it. It wasn't many years ago, that I was the younger woman, desperately needing the counsel and guidance of wise and godly mothers. Being that I am still very young, and also youthful (which is very different from being young *wink, wink*), I am in a wonderful position of gaining the trust of girls who are neglected in teaching at home.

My own daughter is also learning the beauty in domestic support here at home! I've watched her mature-- from that unorganized child that we all started out as-- and develop into a most beautiful young lady who faithfully "keeps" her spot in the home clean and free of clutter.

She is now learning to bake and takes joy in serving others. And what a joy she is to me!

My own "maiden" years, comical as they may have been, began with a rough & awkward start; quite painful in many ways!

At age 13, my (much) younger cousin had to show me how to boil water and make Ramen noodles. This is about the time I had to learn how to "cook" tasteless eggs in a plastic bowl in the microwave (because I was afraid of the stove-fire, no less). I was doing a bit better by the time I was 14, except I didn't know there was a difference between ground pork and ground beef. This was quite traumatizing when I and my little brother dived into a huge plate of eggs n' sausage to find out, it wasn't quite. "It just doesn't taste like when Mom makes it." Go figure.

I still remember a phone conversation with a friend and coworker of my mom's: "Is my mom there?" "No, she's out right now. What do you need?" "Um. How do you know when the egg is boiled all the way?" Silence. "I'm not sure-- Isn't it supposed to float or something? Did you try tapping it to see if it cracks?"

When Mom took on school AND work to learn a career and have some money at the same time, I took on the "mother" role--trying to help in all ways possible (for a thirteen/fourteenish girl, that is).

Every morning (more often than not), after a shower and a quick clean-up of my own room, I headed to the master bedroom to make her bed, open her curtains and clear her dresser. (That always gets messed up when you're dressing in a hurry.)

I'd get in her closet where she kept baskets of clean clothes from last night's laundry and began the long process of ironing each individual piece and hanging them up. I aquired many burns! [All this came back to memory last summer as I was teaching a few 13-year olds how to iron. At first I was surprised they had never ironed before, but enjoyed the process of showing them all the right ways to NOT burn your fingers, hands, arms, ect.]

I can still remember the first few successes of cooking! Brilliant! One was a spaghetti I made for Mom. --Both parents tried it and stated that it was "pretty good", but I think that was out of politeness.

The other was a few years later, at age 16, when I cooked my first meal for my boyfriend. Nothing like greasy homemade tacos! I maintain to this day that this is why he married me.

Milk Glass Tea Cup & Snack Tray Set

There is a little store we love stopping in to every now and then. They sell all sorts of antiques and unique items you can't find just anywhere!

Toward the end of last summer, we stopped in for a small break from work when we came across this beautiful set of 14 tea cups and 14 snack trays.

I am a BIG fan of classic white dishes and milk glass. To me it is timeless beauty! This beautiful little set caught my eye right off!

It was selling at a wonderful price-- only $35 for the set (of what I thought was 12 settings). I wanted them badly and imagined how beautiful they would go with a pink tray set I found a year ago. I could just imagine serving my snacks on these trays at our weekly Bible study meetings we have in our home!

Yet--

No matter how I tried, I just could not imagine spending the money on myself.

So I talked to God about it. I told Him how much I liked the little set. I told Him how I would just love to serve our Bible study snacks on them! I told Him how I'd love to serve ANY snack or treat to my family on them! I talked to Him about it quite a bit. I never felt that God didn't WANT me to have them-- I knew He didn't mind.

Finally, at the beginning of this year, I just knew that I wanted the set, but was still unsettled about the price. One day a few weeks ago, Him said he felt a prompting to go back to that little store and get the set for me. Knowing how I am, Him was just going to pay a little and put it on layaway for me.

We searched the little store, but couldn't find the set. Then I found myself standing next to a large display FILLED with all kinds of wonderful milk glass and a sign that read: "MILK GLASS 75% OFF".

We bought the whole set for only $8.00 plus tax! The whole crew of workers wrapped my set beautifully in paper and placed it in a large box. It wasn't until a few days later, when I was carefully unwrapping the set, that I realized this was not a 24-piece set-- It's a 28-piece set!

I just knew that somehow God would give me the set for less; something I wouldn't feel so guilty about. :)

The Consuming World of Blogging

Bloggers and Chatt-ies were once intimidating to me.

Although an avid blogger and chatty myself, I had this fantastical visualization; an image depicting other bloggers--"true bloggers"-- being more capable of living a WHOLE life than my Self could ever live.

At one time, I enjoyed the pleasure of "knowing" like-minded persons on message boards. I joined the fabulous home school boards, strength training boards, stay-at-home mom boards, and parenting boards.

I delighted in meeting new people and being introduced to their BLOGS; their spectacular places of sharing LIFE AS THEY KNOW IT. What excitement!

It was news to me, then, when I discovered (and much to my sorrow) that there was the possibility that all these supermoms and superpeeps were really not so super at all. They were people who didn't do much else but sit on the internet all day long. How did I come across this speculation? I noticed that their blogs (all lavish and wonderful) were constantly being updated and rearranged in such huge time-consuming ways.

The once-interesting journal entries were greatly reduced to topics written on the subject of-- internet links, internet friends, and internet goals.

I soon discovered that a journal can, indeed carry one away to becoming a total EDIT-tool-fool. I've learned that People, no matter how wonderful and genuine they may seem, are still people. They still can find themselves generously wasting away their time and their lives to their little internet world--you know--LIFE AS THEY KNOW IT.

If I get lost in my little LIFE AS I KNOW IT place, please, throw me a rope and bail me out.