Lots to post - but I'm out of time right now.....so check back later! Thanks!

Chickens, Eggs, and Wicked

Those are the three words to sum up our weekend. We went Friday night to see WICKED, the musical. If you aren't sure the play is about how the witches in the Wizard of Oz came to be. It was fabulous! I will never watch the Wizard of Oz the same again.

The Saturday we went to the Chicken and Egg Festival. Really. Brent wanted to enter in the hard-boiled egg eating contest, but his tummy prevented him from doing so. There were lots of interesting things to see. If we had kids it might have been a little more fun, it's very kid-friendly, but we don't and we did have some fun. They had face-painting, horse rides, a jumping machine, guitar hero (really how is that related to chickens and eggs??), they had a chicken clucking contest - that was hilarious! They had an egg tossing contest, tractors to look at, all kinds of arts and crafts, including make your own pottery. Lamas - Tina wasn't there though - They even had a wonder goat - but I'm not real sure what he did. There were a few blacksmiths there and of course chickens. Oh and they had food - we did not eat any, but they did have chick and egg on stick! Below are a few of the sights we saw:

6 Words

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I went to a Beth Moore conference in March with Julie, Amy, and Jill. We really had a great time. At the beginning of the conference Beth referenced a blog that her daughter, Melissa, had written on the Beth Moore blog, Living Proof, a few weeks prior to the conference. Melissa's post is called Sum Up Your Life In Six Words. Click Here to see the post.

So, for the conference all of Beth's points were done in the Six Word Summary style given in the blog. She challenged us to sum up our life in six words - no more and no less - and then at the end of the conference to do sum up why the Lord brought you to the conference in 6 words.
One that I remember from the conference that one lady said is: "Came in Pieces, Going Home Whole." Isn't that great?!

At the time I could not think of anything. Occasionally, I am not very good at coming up with things on the spur of the moment and that conference was one of those times. I hate it when the speaker gives you an assignment and you can't come up with anything. So I have been pondering this thought for the past few weeks, pretty much determined to come up with something. I mean 6 words, how hard can it be!! My life in 6 words. Hmmm......
Well last week I finally came up with the answer! But in all honesty it truly is not a summerization of my life, but rather of how I feel at this moment in time.

What I came up with was: I am a toy without batteries. My friend, Bashan, words it for me as: I am a toy without wires.

I don't know how much you are supposed to share of yourself on blogs b/c when you blog you might as well open your home to the entire world, you never know who is reading, so I only try to share things that I would tell or share with anyone. I finally decided that this was okay to share, because I would be interested to know how YOU would sum up your life at this moment in time in 6 words. If you need help check out Melissa's post on the Living Proof Blog.

Let me know what you come up with!
Leave a comment or two. :)

Have fun!

I AM SECOND

I was searching our former church website - just to see what was going on there. When I came across this website listed on their site. The site went public just before we moved, or maybe a month after, I can't remember. The pastor of the church part of the site. I had forgotten about it until today. The excerpt below explains the site. Click on the picture below. I think you will like it.

"I am Second is a movement where significance in life is a shared value among people of all kinds. Actors. Athletes. Musicians. Business leaders. Your next-door neighbor. People just like you. Their authentic stories provide insight into dealing with typical struggles of everyday living. You'll meet people who overcame destructive lifestyles. Plus you'll discover those who've tried to go it alone and have failed, yet still found a life full of hope, peace and fulfillment.
I am Second is designed to help people discover their purpose in life. Have you discovered yours?" - summary taken from

www.fbceuless.com

Hurley and Cody

Cody and Hurley. These dogs have added a lot of adventure to our lives for sure! Just 2 Sundays ago, I left for choir practice and only noticed one puppy, Hurley, in the yard. I did not think much about it. However, when Brent was ready to leave to come to church Hurley was sitting at the edge of the yard staring across the woods to the neighbor's backyard.

These are the same neighbors that I visited on the night that was I locked out of the house. Cody must have decided that it was time to go back for a visit. Brent and his dad jumped in the truck and headed to to their house. When they arrived, Cody had treed their cat! He saw Brent and took off running. Finally Brent was able to get close enough to swat at him, when Cody took off again, only this time he jumped into the pool - that is still covered - he gave Brent a look that said "come on, just try to come get me now! hahaha". Meanwhile, Hurley who must have been feeling left out of all the fun came tromping through the woods and sat at Brent's side and stuck by the him the whole time. Hurley is still scared of new things. Now when I say tromping, I mean it. Brent could hear him coming, he said it sounded like a buffalo! I'm sure that is an exaggeration, but Hurley is a big puppy! Both puppies were finally put in the back of the truck and put in the fense until we arrived home from church.

~Cody~

~Hurley~

Well I am sorry to say that this week was not as interesting as the last. But it has been more frustrating. I have not heard from the job interview. They said I would receive a phone call by Monday for a second interview or if I didn't get the second interview, then I would get a letter in the mail, but I have received neither. So I am assuming that I did not get the job, but I'd like to get the letter they promised. One thought that someone gave me, was that it is possible that they only interview for legal purposes and had people in mind within their system to promote. This is really frustrating for a few reasons:
# 1 - I was really excited about the possibility of this job, but now it has been dashed into the
ground - LOL hahahaha
# 2 - Then it was a complete waste of my time and theirs
# 3 - I may have missed other jobs in which I did not apply for because I was waiting on them.

Well I guess I can just carry on with my life.

It has also been frustating b/c I have been very slow at getting our house unpacked - so this week I have got to get on the ball. It is also frustrating for me with this new house - because I think I should have all the updated new house items to decorate with or to use. I do not need these things, I just think that I do. For some reason I have begun to think that everything has to match. What is this about???
It was a little easier when we had less and less space - (amazingly enough). And when we were in an area where material looks and things did not seem to be a competition, well at least for me anyways. Now that we have moved, I kinda feel like I am having this secret competition with other houses to see whose looks to the best. Where is this pride coming from!?!?! AH! I get so annoyed with myself. God has amazingly blessed us with a house, in the first place, in a time when it's hard to buy a house, it's been remodeled a bit on the inside, we have 6 acres of land with tons of trees, and it has a red front and side door - this house was made for us. But I keep thinking I need "more things". I have had to work on this each day. It is a struggle - although I haven't bought anything extra - but I keep wanting it. What is the deal???

I have been reading Set-Apart Feminity by Leslie Ludy.
Oh, I have to go, church is out and Brent and I are hungry and ready to eat....so I will finish this later....

Interesting Week

This has been an interesting week for us. It all started when the dogs ate fire ant killer. The next day Thursday, Brent left to go Florence for a night - he was speaking at several schools and 2 church events Thursday and Friday. So I was all prepared to spend the night by myself and study for the DiscipleNow I was teaching that weekend. About 8:00, I heard the dogs making some noises on the front porch. There are a few cords on the porch and I wanted to make sure they were not chewing on anything they shouldn't. I went outside and closed the door to the house so they wouldn't go in, I saw they were fine and went to open the door when......TA-DA! I discover I am locked out of the house. HA!! I couldn't believe it! It was kinda funny actually. So here I am walking around the house in the dark checking all windows and doors - they were all locked. I was thankful that it was a semi-warm night and that all the porch lights were on and that my car was unlocked. I considered sleeping in the car for about a minute and decided that was ridiculous. I should just walk to neighbors and call my mom and dad - b/c Brent is in Florence. Only it's completely dark outside, I have never met my neighbors, and there is a rapist on the loose in Cullman County. None of these were extremely comforting to me. But then again, I wasn't really scared either. Actually not at all. In fact it was kind of adventurous!! But for some reason I think I thought I should be scared- so after about 20 minutes of wondering around looking for a rope or something to tie around my Cody's neck (the dog) so he could go with me, I found one in the trailor we used to move furniture. Cody and I armed with an iron stair spoke headed off to the neighbors. They were extremely nice and let me and Cody to use the phone. We talked while we waited for my dad to come and discovered we had mutal friends.
Needless to say everything was fine, I stayed at my mom and dad's that night and my dad met Brent in Florence to get the key. The only negative about the whole thing was that I did not get to study much for the DiscipleNow. Although, I had previously looked at the material, I still had a lot to do.

DiscipleNow was alright.

Then Monday I was eating lunch at home and I looked out the window and I see Cody running towards the house - it was as if he was running a victory run. I saw in his mouth was a CHICKEN!!! Well what was left of it anyway - I thought it looked as though the chicken had been dead for a few weeks or so - disgusting! I ran outside and grabbed the rake! I was hoping Cody would drop it and I could rake it away from him. Hurley - the other dog- was not going to miss out on the fun and took off after Cody trying to grab the chicken. It was a sight to behold. Two black labs running in the yard with few week old dead chicken in the mouth and me running behind them with a rake! LOL! :) Go ahead and laugh - I am!
Finally they ran under a forsythia bush and I couldn't get to them. They ate the chicken - it was really disgusting. So that concluded my lunch for the day.

Wednesday, Brent had ankle surgery - so he has been hobbling around in a boot and crutches for the week and will be on those at least till Thursday when he goes back for his check-up.
He started therapy last Thursday - where we discovered that the insurance does not pay for physical therapy. Isn't that lovely? But it won't be too much esp. since Brent has done so much therapy before, he only has to go once a week and I think they cut us deal.

I had a job interview on Friday. It went fairly well. At least, I would hire me! :)
They will call tomorrow if I get a second interview and that interview will take place on Tuesday and I could possibly start Wednesday! So I've just been praying about it. We'll see.

Then this weekend, I went to a Beth Moore conference in Nashville. It was at Two Rivers. I have never been to a Beth Moore conference. It was really good. Travis Cottrell and his band lead the worship - they did an amazing job. His voice is amazing! I thought I could listen to him for hours. I would love to hear he and his wife to a duet. Her voice was beautiful too!
The conference was for minister's wives. So Amy, Julie, Jill and I spent the weekend together and had a fabulous time!

So for us this week was pretty eventful - or at least had some funny events (and serious ones)
Now on to next week! Who knows what it will bring?!

Have an adventure this week.

Fire Ants

No, we do not have fire ants at our house. But our dogs ate fire ant killer. Isn't that exciting. It happened yesterday around 3:00p.m. The former owners of our house have not retrevied all the mess in the yard that they acquired over the years and are still in the process of cleaning out of our yard. It just so happened that a bag of fire ant killer was left, open. I see my puppies playing with what I thought was a box in the yard - I finished what I was doing and then looked out again and they are still playing with the same box. Well Hurley is still on it chewing it and Cody is sitting and watching. So I walk out to get it thinking they might step on nails or who knows what else could be out there and "viola!" Fire Ant Killer is all over the place and Hurley has his nose all in it. I picked it up and tossed it in the dumpster that was conveniently delievered to our house for us to disposed of the mess we made remodeling the house. I then called the vet who proceeded to tell me to make them drink perioxide! Literally I said "as in hydrogen peroxide, in the brown bottle, that you buy at Wal-Mart?" (WHAT?!?!!?!?! "Yes", came the answer, about 8 ounces or so! This will make them vomit. So I called Brent and asked if he could run home and help me pour the peroxide down their throats. He did, we gave them each about 3 oz. b/c all we had was 6 oz. and about 5 minutes later - they were both vomiting. I know - it was really disgusting! and poor Hurley had little tears - or at least that's what it looked like. They are fine now. The peroxide did the trick - but I cannot believe we poured it down their throats! They must have wondered what in the world were we doing to them!
They did have a bit of fun yesterday - I raked up a bunch of leaves and they had a ball playing in the leaves!
So that was our adventure for yesterday!

A Lenton Reflection - by Sarah Kerr

This is a message given by friend Sarah. Sarah is a graduated of Wheaton College and Duke University Sarah and I met at Teen Missions International during the summer of 2000. Enjoy.

"This year, Ash Wednesday falls February 25th, about ten days after Valentine’s Daya holiday that is supposedly all about the heart. It’s a day filled with greeting cards covered with hearts, heart-shaped chocolates tucked in heart-shaped boxes, and flowers arranged in heart-shaped vases. If somehow you missed Valentine’s Day this year, though, you’re in luck, because our texts for this Ash Wednesday tell us that today is also a day about the heart. In Matthew 6, Jesus says,

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”And in Psalm 51, which we will read later in the service, the psalmist prays: “Create in me a clean heart, O God...” and,“A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”According to these texts, like Valentine’s Day, Ash Wednesday is also a day about the heart.

Ash Wednesday is different from Valentine’s Day, though; instead of focusing on happy, sweet and sentimental hearts, this day in the church calendar deals with our real three-dimensional hearts, hearts that are sometimes full of joy and gladness, but at other times are empty or broken hearts that feel torn in two.

So what does Ash Wednesday have something to do with our hearts? Today we are starting Lent, a time that in one way focuses on external, physical actions, what Jesus calls “practices of piety” in our gospel reading. If you take a look at our Gospel text, you’ll see that Jesus mentions three different things that his disciples will practice: fasting, praying, and giving. He assumes that his disciples will do these things, saying not “if you fast or pray or give” but “when you fast or pray or give.” Jesus is clear that those three practices must not remain just external actions, things that we do for the sake of appearances: “Do not disfigure your face to show others you are fasting.” “Do not stand and pray to be seen by others.” “Whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you.” Jesus tells us if our Lenten discipline remains on the outside, then we will miss the “reward” that awaits us during this season. There are spiritual rewards that await our hearts during Lent if we are ready to embrace them.

What does each of these three practices have to do with our hearts? The first one he mentions, fasting, is probably the practice we think of first as we get ready for Lent. Lent is the season when we allow the Christian practice of fasting to shape our everyday lives, so for many of us, Lent is about giving up something for several weeks, chocolate or meat or even (gasp!) email. But what does this physical practice of fasting have to do with our hearts? Fasting during Lent is right and good, but we don’t do it just to find out if we have enough willpower to resist that bar of chocolate. If at the end of 40 days, all I have learned is that I can go that long without chocolate, then I’ve missed out on the real purpose of Lenten practices. If we only fast without also praying and giving, we may come to the end of Lent with our hearts untouched.

And that brings us to why the second practice Jesus mentions, prayer, is such a necessary part of what we do during Lent. Putting prayer and fasting togethergives a spiritual dimension to the physical disciplines we take on. Prayer allowsour fasting to touch us on a heart level. Fasting without prayer is like getting your house ready for a guest and then never inviting them to come over. Fasting is the way we make space in our lives for God, and prayer is the way that we ask God to come over, to come into our hearts and change them. When we decide what to give up for Lent, we should think about how giving that thing up will create space for us to encounter God. For example, a friend of mine gives up listening to the radio in the car during Lent. Instead of listening to music or talk radio in the car, she uses that time and space to pray. Other people give up a meal once a week and spend that meal time in prayer or Bible study. Prayer makes our fasting more than just an outwardly observance, more than something to check off our spiritual to- do list; it helps us to remember the real reason for any of this Lent business, which is to grow closer to God and to become more like Jesus.

So Jesus mentions fasting and prayer, and he also mentions one more practice – giving to the needy. This third Lenten practice calls us to move our attention off of ourselves and on to other people. Sometimes during Lent as I fast and pray, hoping for transformation, my contemplation can become self-centered, so that my Lenten practice becomes all about me and my personal piety. Jesus has told elsewhere in the gospels that when we give to the least of these, it’s like we are giving directly to him. If this is so, then praying and fasting without giving is like getting your house ready for a guest, inviting them over, and then never offering them something to eat. The practice of giving reminds us that Lent is about making space in our lives not just for ourselves, not even just for God, but for others, because so much of our sin lies in how we think about and treat our neighbors. When I was in seminary, I saw this Lenten practice of giving in action for the first time. The chapel encouraged students to fast for one meal each week and then give the money that we would have spent on that meal to someone in need. By giving of the time and the resources that we consider “our own,” we learn to imitate Jesus, who gave freely of himself for the sake of others.

And that is the purpose of Lent, to form in us the heart of Jesus, the one who loved God and loved others, not in merely a sentimental way but in a real and deep way. As we walk with Jesus through Lent, we learn the patterns of how his heart responded to God and to those around him, and we begin to take on those same attitudes. During Lent, we will probably discover the ways that our hearts don’t much resemble the heart of Jesus yet. When we fast, we may find that impatience rises to the surface of our hearts after a few extra hours without food. When we pray, we may find how easily we give into distraction and how difficult it is for us to enter into silence. When we give, we may find that our treasure actually lie in earthly things. As we discover what is in our hearts, we are likely to find some sin: brokenness, alienation from God and from others, and self-centeredness.

However, our texts for today, especially Psalm 51, tell us that discovering sin in our hearts is not a matter for despair. For no matter how surprised or disappointed we might be by what we find within us, God will not be surprised. God our Father, who “sees in secret,” knows that our hearts often don’t look like pretty and sentimental Valentine’s Day Hearts. Instead we often have Ash Wednesday hearts, hearts of ash and stone, hearts of sorrow and of sin. And yet God does not look down on such “heart conditions”; as Psalm 51 tells us, “A broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” In our Sunday services every week we hear the call to “Lift up your hearts” to God. Notice that it doesn’t say “Lift up your heart if it’s full of pleasant things; otherwise keep it to yourself.” Unlike on Valentine’s Day, your heart doesn’t have to be in a certain condition for you to join in the celebration. Lift up your hearts, whether they are beautiful or ugly, full or empty, whole or broken, because you lift them up to a God who sees our hearts and is patient with us; because Lent is a journey that eventually ends with the joy and hope of Easter.

As you come forward tonight to receive the ashes, ask God to show you what is in your heart during this Lent; and whatever you discover, lift it to the Lord in prayer and ask for transformation. If you haven’t had a chance yet to think about how you might practice Lent this year, take a few moments to ask God for guidance. As we fast, pray, and give, God will bring us through these 40 days, teaching us truth in our inward beings and creating in us new and clean hearts – hearts that are renewed in love for God and for neighbor, hearts that have been formed to be a little bit more like the heart of Jesus.Amen.

Ash Wednesday Sermon, February 25th, 2009 St. Thomas Episcopal Church, St. Petersburg, Florida Sarah Kerr (also given at St. Luke's in Durham, NC in 2007)"

We're In!

Oh I forgot to say:



We're in! We moved in last week! We spent our first night in our house on Saturday!


Last Thursday was a bit sad for me. The last time I saw our "stuff", it was being packed into a 10x10 storage unit in Texas. So needless to say Thursday was a swirl of memories. I kept seeing boxes that we used from our friends who had just had a baby and moved, they said "black diaper bag", "Charis' room", or a game we played with Rachel and Thomas, the table that sat near the door of our apartment, etc. I was lost in Texas-land and just as the first tear that I had been holding back for an hour was about to fall - I saw the toilet! HA! It was hilarious! The toilet upstairs looks so funny! It's kind of squatty and juts out from the wall - it's very long. I just started laughing. So that was good comic relief! Thank goodness!

I am very slow at unpacking! But it's going to be done soon!

Then you may come for a visit!