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Showing posts from May, 2011
"But as the Ark of the L ord entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the L ord , she was filled with contempt for him." I read this today and wondered if Michal looked at David like some fundamental Christians look at Charismatics. I was also challenged by a portion of David's reply to Michal when she mocked him: "Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes!" I had to admit that I am not sure I am willing to respond to God in worship to the extent that I am humiliated with myself when I look back on the occasion. In fact, I barely have enough courage to raise my hands in worship for fear that I will look foolish to anyone who sees me. This brings a memory to mind. I was in church and this song was sang near the very beginning of the service. A man, so moved by the Holy Spirit upon hearing the words, "Ther
"Even her?" "Yes even you." "And even him? " "Yes. Even you, too." "That's not what I'm asking, Lord. The cheats, murderers, liars, thieves... Even they can come to you?" "The answer and the question remain the same. If I saw fit to forgive you, I ought to forgive them, too."
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Norah and I were doing a quick phonics test in the living room this afternoon. And, as you can see, Avril doesn't make school easy on us these days.
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I took the girls to The Jump Zone today, the same place where Norah celebrated her birthday party last year. It's been cold and raining for several days straight so we really needed to get out of the house and get some real exercise. Here are some photos I took with my cell phone while we took a break to drink some juices and waters. Side note that I am sharing here so I will never forget it: I called my dad a few moments ago. He and my mom had turned in for the night. He answered quickly (for him) and sounded worried because I was calling so late. (Actually, I just knew he would answer. He may not answer when I call at two in the afternoon and he's napping... but if I call at 1 a.m., I know he'll answer out of concern that something's wrong.) I told him about an old friend who I grew up with and how she may have to say goodbye to her dad tomorrow. I said all the things that were on my heart, all the things he really deserves to hear before it's too late.
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It can sometimes sound like we hate teachers, or hate the public school, or hate the system, etc.  But its not true.  We do not hate any of those.  We do think the system is broken, and public schools in general do not do a good job of teaching kids, and that most teachers want a better system, and want kids to do well, and think they are doing the best job possible and training the kids in our society, and frankly, many are. Teaching is a tough and important career.  It is a career that has its challenges, but is also rather rewarding.  You do get the opportunity to influence children for the better, and for that it should be praised. So imagine my delight when I stumbled upon a lady sitting at the mall tonight in the food court with this sign propped up by a paperback novel. (Sign says, I am a teacher.  This is how I spend my evenings. Please ask me what I am doing.) I had to ask.  "What are you doing? "I'm reading this book, in the evening." was her repl
Dwayne said the store called and my camera is in. Ha! Figures! I found some measure of comfort in knowing that it wouldn't ready till I was ready for it. But, now it's not so easy. I have decided I will not go get it until I am caught up with my Bible reading. I will not. I will not. I will not. The Bible says, "Make no provision for the flesh." And, I think that applies to this situation. I am not going to make it harder on myself by having my new camera within reach. Are you crazy??!! Even I know my limits! So, my camera can wait at the store. Do you think I can finish 25 days worth of reading in one night? I guess we will see. I'm brewing the coffee now.
I have 25 days worth of Bible reading left to catch up on. I have 5 days till I am supposed to get my new camera. If I average 5 days worth of Bible reading everyday for the next 5 days, I will finish just in time to start blogging again with the help of my new camera. I have read just about as much as I could read everyday since I made the decision to use my blog time to try and catch up on my Bible reading. So, I am not the least bit surprised that my camera will end up coming right when I am finished fulfilling this promise to the Lord. God smiles at me through these kinds of coincidences constantly.
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I have 32 days of reading left before I catch up. I really slowed down my pace this week. But, I am trying to press on. I haven't gotten my new camera yet, so I can't really take nice pictures anyway. It has been ordered, paid for and is supposed to be at the store on the 22nd. So, I am hoping I will be caught up with my reading and free to blog again by the time I have a nice, new camera to use again. (I love you, Dad. I've been calling you, but you don't answer. I think you should give me a call tomorrow evening.) Here's a picture of Norah that Dwayne took with his cell phone when he went to pick her up from Sunday School last week.
The Presence of our Lord will heal you or crush you, comfort you or terrify you. You will draw near or flee. Our Lord remains the same and yet all this is true. The only difference then is you. -Veronica Boulden
Your promise I cling to: that if you teach me (and I let you) then I'll be like you. Completely. -Veronica Boulden
Make that 44 days worth of reading left.
As of right now, I have 49 days worth of reading left before I catch up on my Bible reading for this year and then I will be back on track to read the Bible in a year . (If you are just tuning in, I had fallen more than three months behind schedule and I decided not to blog everyday like I had always done until I caught up.) Every day, I start with my reading for that morning (so that I don't fall even farther behind) and then I try to read at least a day or two more of reading before I start the day and then I try to read a few more days throughout the day and in the evening. This is one of the hardest things I've ever done since I love to blog and know I have to neglect a promise of a picture a day to my dad to get it done. But, I won't give up till I catch up. You may think I'm nuts, but I was sure God asked me to do this. I wasn't sure why, but I was also sure I couldn't tell God, "No." Perhaps you feel like there's some little thing the Lor
I have 68 days worth of Bible reading left to do before I can blog again. This is down from 80 days worth of reading two days ago, down from more than 100 days of reading two days before that. So, I am making progress. If I keep up the pace, I should be done in about a week.
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Dwayne's parents just emailed some pictures they took of the girls while they watched them so he and I could go on our 10th anniversary cruise. Here are a few of my favorites. I know it's less than twenty four hours after I said I wouldn't blog again till I caught up with my Bible reading. Don't judge me! I'm thinking only of my poor father here. ;)
I've decided I'm not going to blog again until I've caught up on my Bible reading for this year . You may remember that I am trying to read the Bible through in one year. You may also remember that I am three months behind at this point. Hopefully, this won't mean that I'll never blog again. (If it meant that, I really don't think I'd even make this commitment because I really enjoy blogging.) But I am feeling driven to dedicate the free time I usually spend blogging for the next week or two to reading in my Bible in hopes that I can catch up. If I never blog again, well... you'll know why and you can laugh at me... or shake your head at my shame. But, here's hoping this commitment lights a Bible-reading fire under my butt. Note: I am not forgetting how often some of you read my blog and how my dad enjoys seeing pictures of his grand kids, etc. In fact, that is utmost in my mind and I believe it will help me stay motivated to read as much as I ca
I found this list of "attainments " (goals or achievements) that a student should reach by the time she is six. (There's also a list for a twelve year old.) These lists were written by Charlotte Mason way back in the day. I got some ideas from them. For example, I have been considering starting foreign language with Norah, but I am not sure how serious a study we can attempt at this point. I'm not sure what's reasonable to expect from a six year old. But, I believe Norah can memorize some Spanish vocabulary, a song or two and some phrases by the time she's seven. At the very least, it would be a good place to begin.
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I try and use our globe as often as possible. I do this because I am way too ignorant about geography and because I do not want to remain that way and because I do not want Norah to grow up as ignorant as I was. So, anytime a location comes up in conversation or in news or in our study of history, I try and find it on the globe. I do this no matter how inconvenient it is at the time. This means I feel like I am always stopping what I am doing and pulling the globe off the shelf. And it means that the globe I paid $60 for is getting used (abused), but at least it isn't just collecting dust on the shelf, right? A few days ago, for example, we read about the first Sumerian dictator and the Akkadian empire he created by conquering all the city-states. We even colored a map of that area in history. We made it a point find that area on the globe and saw that Akkadia is now the current day countries of Turkey, Syria and Iraq. Till then, I had never realized the Tigris and Euphrates we
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From South Carolina, we went to Florida. We stayed the night with Dwayne's mom and dad, but we left the very next morning to meet the boat for our 10th anniversary cruise. The girls stayed with Dwayne's parents while we were gone. This was a view of our ship, the Monarch of the Seas, from the little boat that shuttled us to and from the island. Our first stop was Coco Kay. The deep water in the Caribbean is the brightest turquoise. The shallow water we swam in (and by "shallow" I mean as deep as 45 feet) is perfectly clear. This is the view as I relaxed my head back on my lounge chair. We spent the whole morning at Coco Kay snorkeling, then we pigged out on BBQ ribs, chicken, fresh vegetable and fruit salads, then we relaxed in the dappled shade with our paperbacks for a few minutes until we snorkeled again in the afternoon. At the end of the day, we were totally exhausted and content (and sunburned). I didn't get any underwater photos, since I don't ha
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On the way home from Cypress Gardens, I pulled over and bought some boiled peanuts from a road side vendor. (Don't judge me. Like hot dogs in the north, boiled peanuts in the south are only really ever sold by street vendors.) Norah and Avril had never tried them. But, they both loved them.