My Latest(?) Bookmark

You might recall my usual choice of bookmark. 
I'm either gaining a little class or else I was downstairs yesterday when something interrupted my reading.

My bookmark choice?  An event ticket stub off the kitchen counter.

The event?  The Rodeo.......in July.

This begs the question:
Would I rather use toilet paper or a ticket stub reminder I am 4 months behind in cleaning off my kitchen counter clutter pile?!?

Tough call. 

At least I cleaned the ticket stub off the counter.  Perhaps next month I'll clear off the kids' summer swimming evaluations ;)

God. The Perfect Planner.

Several of you know that I am my church's Awana Secretary.
 (a youth outreach/scripture memory club).
This is a perfect fit for a DETAIL minded person such as myself. 
(Some might call it control-freakiness)

Tonight at club, the Bible Lesson Lady (official title) wasn't able to be there - unexpectedly.
So I literally last minute volunteered to teach the two 15 minute classes. 
(K-2nd graders and 3rd-6th).

This was not easy for me.
I'm pretty confident in Bible Story knowledge.  That wasn't it.

I had to give up control of the Secretary Desk!  :)

Anyway, 
Since tonight happened to be "pajama night" at Awana, my leader and I thumbed through a kid's lesson idea book and chose the one entitled "Daydreaming".  I skimmed the lesson for the suggested Bible story.  I located it in a "church" Bible and said a quick prayer.

The Lesson?   Jacob's Stairway to Heaven Dream (Gen 28:10-20).

This story immediately followed what the kids learned last week about Jacob tricking Esau out of his birthright. 
TOTALLY unplanned by my leader or myself... but God  planned it.

Then.....  Even with no run-through, or practice, or outline  (I like outlines)... for both lesson times I finished with exactly 3 minutes remaining.... just enough time to close and pray.   I did not have a watch and there was no clock in the room.  Both times when I felt we reached where God wanted us to be, I asked a leader how much time we had and he said "you've got 3 minutes remaining".

Sorry.  This story is harder to type than experience. 
But I couldn't NOT write how COOL I saw God work tonight!  He took potential disorder (no Bible Lesson Leader) situation and perfectly orchastrated it into a God-Planned Lesson.

Interactive:
Let me hear your stories of how God has taken disorder and perfectly organized it!

Oh.  In case you were wondering.....
the substitute secretaries did just fine, by the way  ;)

Overheard from Over the Fence

If you live in my neighborhood and at 8:00pm you overheard
a hysterical woman yelling,

"At the Fence!  At the FENCE!  Get busy at. the. FENCE!"

It was me.

Hershey, our dog, knows to poop (get busy) along the fence line.
Tonight he tried pooping not 18 inches off the back patio!
So I ran after him, clapping my hands, and yelling like a crazy person.
Then I realized what it must sound like to the neighbors.
Sheesh!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Two MEs

1) I love homeschooling the children.  Extra time with them before they're grown up in a blink of an eye.  I know Christian beliefs are being reinforced instead of torn down.  I can challenge them in areas they need to be. They have time to play together and relax at home and just be kids.

2) I want to send my children to public school.  Tomorrow.
I am constantly surrounded by questions, whine, and attitudes needing adjusting (including mine).  Are they really getting a better education?  I'm probably letting a million little things fall through the cracks.  I could use some alone me time.  A chance to write for real.  Get a job and help achieve my "bigger house" goal.

Anyway.  That is where I am at today.  Still feeling called to homeschool the children.  But tired of my 6 year old's attitude.  If she would just calm down and breath, she wouldn't get SO bent out of shape and then make Mom crazy.
Oh.
I'm the grown up? 
I shouldn't allow my 6 year old to rile me?! 
My 34-year-old-self shouldn't resort to 6-year-old-like tactics?

In a perfect world that would happen!

Here is to a fresh start tomorrow :)

Decoder Ring - Part 2

If you missed my last post, click here and read it first.....

Caught up?!  Ok. 
I missed one very important phrase my 5 year old daughter, Krystin, uses.
She made this phrase up a couple years ago and it has stuck around.

She calls me: 
"MA-ma-Mi-mi-MOO-moo-CEreal-box"

There is plenty in that phrase I could take offense at,
1) My name is not Mama Mimi!
2) What woman likes to be compared to a cow?  Ever.
3) A box-like figure isn't that attractive, either, is it now?

But what if I examine the context in which Krystin calls me that?
1) Perhaps in her at-the-time 3 year old brain she was actually thinking "Mama and Me"?
2) She calls me this at night when I tuck her in, or while she is snuggling up to me.
3) Cereal is her absolute favorite food.

When I consider her motives and choose to dwell on the positive possibilities of what she means, the phrase doesn't bother me anymore..... I actually like it.

I think I'll try and keep that in mind with other people, too.
Remember that the first possible negative meaning of what they just said or did might not be what they intended.  Their heart might be in the right place.  I just have to get out my decoder ring.

The decoder ring found in a cereal box......
Which reminds me that even though I love Krystin's phrase,
when Krystin says it.....

Don't you ever call me a cow or cereal box.
I will assume the worst  :)

My Little "Scootles" (AKA - Krystin)

(Oh, did I not mention I use made-up words, too?!)  ;)

Photo courtesy of Kari Masson

Decoder Ring Needed

If you are are ever in the neighborhood and stop by, you might need a
secret decoder ring.
That is because my children have their own language. 
What's funny is that I don't notice it anymore - it seems almost normal. 
Here are a few choice examples:

"pei-wei"  (pay-way) = penguin
"March of the Minis" means you better not stand at the bottom of the stairs
      because they're rip-roaring, sliding down on their stomachs in footie
      pajamas
"baby ear" = when one of our dog's, Hershey, ears is flipped up and you can
       see pink skin
"rang-roo" = this refers to the howling noise Hershey makes
"eighty-eighty in the tatey" = scrambled eggs  (NO clue.... dont' ask)

I wish I could make money off them inventing a new language.........