A trip to the dentist

Yesterday I made my first trip to the dentist in 7 years to get my teeth cleaned. Before we go any further all the mommies out there worried about the teeth of my children, they are good, they go right on schedule.

Back to me, last time I went something went wrong and it was a horrible experience. In fact, I fled the office mid-cleaning in tears vowing to never return. And for the last 7 years I have held to that vow, and then I met Anne. Unknown to me she use to oversee multi dental offices. So she knows alot about teeth, gum disease, plaque causing problems, etc.

She counseled me, basically she said you are crazy, go!

Then she brought a magazine article that said the same thing in even more scary words. Chad had just had his teeth cleaned with a new lady as he changed offices so that it is "in-network". He said he thought I would really like her. (Of course, he thought I would like the last one too.)

I called the office and told the lady making the appointment, that basically if it hurts I am prone to cry and run out the door in sobs. Just the kind of patients every office is looking for!

When I got there yesterday, I was early so I brought in this book I'm reading on the Holy Spirit. The lady before me cancelled so I didn't wait at all. Sheri was the lady who would be cleaning my teeth. We talked a few minutes, while she took my book and purse to put on the counter.

As she did my x-rays she asked where I went to church, we exchanged basic facts like women do. Then as she is getting ready to start she looks me in the eye, very close as she is mere inches from my face, with the pick thing in hand, and the big white mask, very quietly she said, "I prayed for you this morning."

All my fear melted away, I knew that I was in the right chair with the right lady. It wasn't all great, 7 years of plaque is hard to get off. She assures me that next time will be a breeze. But I made it though because I knew she prayed for a lady she didn't know, who sounded like she might be a problem patient.

That is our God...good even in the mundane details like teeth cleaning!

Why dirt?

So this morning I was thinking about why did God decide to make us out of dirt? Dirt, common everywhere, kinda ugly unless you are a gardener, not really much I can say about dirt. Especially since I have this underlining thing going on. But have you ever pondered why God picked dirt?

I was thinking about diamonds, why didn't he pick diamonds?

That would be special, give us value, make us shiny. (Well if you are like me my face is shiny at times but not for a reason like diamonds.) So I'm asking him, why didn't you use something cooler than dirt?

Then I felt Him remind me of the book I am reading on the Holy Spirit. Because he lives in us that gives us extreme value. He can gives us a glow because he is the light in us.

Not to mention that like diamonds take alot of work to go from being dug up in the ground to the finished product, so do our lives. It's a process!

Then the next thought I had was 'you struggle with pride enough being made of dirt, you would be worse if you were made with daimonds!'

Just a thought for the day, are you letting God turn you into a diamond or are you turning yourself into a mud pie?

If you have any advice for removing the underlining, I need help!

Idolatry is found in the most innocent things...

I woke up this morning and hurried over to faithfulchick's blog hoping to take part in the 10 Minute Tuesday. What I didn't think about is how the verses would strike me.

Idolatry, why do we fall into idolatry so easily? I was thinking about different ways we get caught up in it. What struck me was some times we are only caught up for a short time. I thought of when I first discovered blogs, I read them, many of them. Several days, ok, maybe a couple of weeks. At some point I realized I had gotten sucked into spending hours on the computer, and started limiting my time.

What I realized this morning was while I changed the behavior did I confess it as idolatry? No, I didn't. God speaks very strongly about idolatry and takes it super serious. Look at what He says in Isaiah:

All who make idols are nothing and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame. Who shapes a god and casts an idol, which can profit him nothing? He and his kind will be put to shame… (Isaiah 44:9-11)

My next train of thought was why do I fall into idolatry? I felt God saying, because I tell you the truth and it isn't always what you want to hear. I realized in that instant that alot of the things I temporarily make an idol of are things that make me feel good about me, just as I am, no growing needed.

The truth of it is, when I make anything an idol, whatever benefit they may have in my life, is wiped out. Blogs can be a source of encouragement as well as challenging but only if I use them in my life in a way that God is honored. Otherwise, they profit me nothing!

Rain, Rain and more Rain

We have been getting some rain here in North Georgia! I am so glad to see it because just a few months ago, all we heard on the news was...

Water is running out, there will be a water shortage in X days!

Now have you ever thought of how to come up with a plan of what to do if you have NO MORE WATER? You can't even wrap your mind around that one. I'm one of these people who like to have some kind of feeble plan in case of a huge problem.

Anybody remember Y2K? Yep, I had some extra's one hand. For some reason I had alot of aluminum foil. Now I can't remember the purpose for it, but I had it. Then next was the terrorist attacks, and yep, I had the book bag, so we could flee quickly. Where I don't know, but I had the book bag.

Then next was the bird flu, once again, we had something I ordered from Israel that was suppose to help with the virus, gloves, I can't even remember what all I bought, just in case.

Poor Chad, just goes along for the ride. But for some reason, it gives me comfort and then I'm fine. Back to the water shortage, I couldn't come up with one thing to do on that one.

A friend of mine put rain barrels out, but since there was already no rain, I skipped that one. Instead I spent my days, worried, listening to the count down until we ran out of water. Thankfully winter came and we have had some good rains!

I'm not for sure we have had enough that come this summer the problem won't rear its ugly head again. But for today, its raining and it is a great sight!

My newest favorite food

Last night I re-confirmed to my family that I am the weirdest person they know! We were having a pretty standard Wednesday night dinner. Chicken nuggets, broccoli with cheese, cresent rolls, and some left over rice.

Now as you can imagine the above meal was not going to cause anyone to rave about the great cooking skills of mom. But come on it's church night and for some reason we are not allowed to have a really good meal before church. Maybe if we eat something wonderful it releases a chemical in our brain that causes us to be so happy we forget we need to go to church in order to make it through the rest of the week. So yes, I have my families best interest at heart when I come up with meals like that.

So since I knew it had taken me all of 15 mins to cook everything in the microwave minus the cresent rolls. I decided to dress up the tea glasses with a little slice of lemon. Just like our favorite food places. As I am getting the lemons out, I see Avocado's which I have discovered I love.

I had never had Avocado's until just a couple of weeks ago, because come on, they are green and kinda mushy looking. Here in my neck of the woods no one really knows what you do with them, in fact last night we debated are they a fruit or a vegetable? I voted fruit because they grow on trees, right?

Chad's not so sure that he has ever heard of an Avocado tree but nothing else makes sense. They weigh to much to grow on a vine. Anyway I'm wandering, the point was we had a nice plate of fresh Avocado to go with our chicken nuggets.

I personally thought it was a good choice, we had a veggie, broccoli. With fruit, lemons and possible Avocado's. And the all important meat, chicken nuggets and starches, rice and crescent rolls.

What could be better? Chad is sure he has never been served "a condiment as a side dish".

So what do you all do with Avocado's, side dish, condiment or do you have a great recipe where they are the main ingredient?

A mess could be part of my future!

Have you ever had one of those weeks, where nothing goes wrong but nothing feels right either? I have this situation that if I go one way, it could be a mess or if I go the other way, it could be a mess and if I stay put, it could be a mess...what to do?

I guess get ready for a possible mess!

Since I was in such a mood last night I watched VH1 Classic all time "Break Up Songs." The memories, the hair styles, such as Cyndi Lauper,

the make-up on both the gals and the guys, with the hairstlyes such as Poision,

not to mention the lyrics didn't give me a clearer path on which mess is part of my future. But it did help me remember where I have been and where I don't want to go back, I just flat can't afford that much hair spray!

Just in case your wondering what the number 1 break up song is...I will survive by Gladys Knight!

Go on now go, walk out the door,

Just turn around now, you not welcome anymore,

Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me withgoodbye,

Did you think I'd crumble, did you think I'd lay downand die,

Oh no not I, I will survive,

For as long as I know how to love I know I'll stayalive,

I've got all my life to live; I've got all my love togive,

And I'll survive, I will survive,

Hey, Hey!

Yep, that is what was coming out of mouth as we went to be and is still here bright and early!

Very first Bible study, "Lord, Change Me!"

My first Bible study and conference was with Evelyn Christenson, "Lord, Change Me!" I was so scared I had only been a Christian a few months and I had no idea of what to expect from a conference. We had a great time but somehow her book has stayed a part of my life for the last 15 years.

Yep, I am coming up on a big Birthday, 15 years in March. I wish I could remember the day but all I remember is the month. This is the only time that I have ever put any thought into it. But for what ever reason this one coming up has been on my mind alot!

Ever so often, I rebreak this book out and reread it. Its an old edition, like from the 70's. So the book is really tiny compared to the books now days. But the message still moves me. The whole book is about letting God change me, not Chad, not Meghan, Katie or Lauren, just me.

To sum up the book in my eyes, she is wanting you to take your Bible, pray and ask God to speak to you. You start reading and read only until you hear God. I started this a couple of weeks ago and I have been AMAZED at what God has said!

I chose Isaiah to read from and without fail God has spoken and put His finger right on what I need! Some of it has made me smile, some has made me cry and some has thrilled me! So if by chance you have never heard of Evelyn, here is the cover of the book I have. They have updated the book and you can find it at Lifeway stores and on ebay too! But I'm fond of this old edition.

I tried to find a website for her, but I couldn't find much, from my guessing she is in her late 80's now. Late 80's and still having an impact for God, all because she said, "Lord, Change Me!"

So how about you all, what was your first Bible study?

A weekend of rest...

I wish I had a tale of a weekend filled with humor, but truthfully it was a nice, quiet, relaxing weekend.

All three girls went to Mom's house, which I'm sure made her weekend not quiet and not relaxing, but lively and chaotic!

Yesterday Chad worked on his boat and I read pretty much all day. I love Ted Dekker and his new series that is geared to youth is very good! In fact, Katie and I are both reading it. She left it for me this weekend since she knew her weekend would be packed with fun that didn't include reading.

We got a lot of rain yesterday which was wonderful, right up until the TV started beeping with the warnings, the older I get the more scary they seem. But all was fine in our neck of the woods, just rain with some wind and lightening.

The girls will be home this afternoon, and after a weekend at Nanny's filled with junk food, too little sleep, very few rules, and just basically a big ole party, they use to have behavior problems when they came home. Now Meghan and Katie come home and go straight to bed, so that will leave Lauren. It's kinda funny how when they are younger you can't get them to take naps for anything and then BOOM...the pre-teen and teen years show up, and they sleep all the time!

Maybe God knows we need to see them asleep and have that rush of love hit us, because if they stayed awake all the time, we would be crazy!

Have a great Monday!

Onesmus, Welcome

A couple of months ago I started reading blogs, with no thought of starting one myself, I just enjoyed reading them. I was a lurker! After awhile I wanted to comment so I had to set up a profile. Then the blogging bug hit me and I started this. As all of this was going on BooMama started talking about going to Africa with Compassion.

It really intrigued me and I started reading alot of the blogs of people who were going. By the time they got there I felt like some of my friends were the ones going. I was excited for them and couldn't wait to "hear" what they saw.

Then the stories started coming in and tears welled in my eyes, blog after blog. The next day, same thing, but I decided to sponsor a child, I went to the site and was overwhelmed at choosing a child. Their faces were so sweet and after all the blogs, I knew they were so hopeful. I couldn't do it, I couldn't pick a child and leave another on the screen. I continued to read though, tears welling and once streaming.

Last night at dinner, I talked to Chad and the girls about what I had been reading and seeing. When we got home we watched some of the videos that have been posted and went into the website to pick a child.

We tried Chad's birthday, there were kids with the same day, but not the one. We tried Lauren's birthday, then Katie's, then Meghan's and finally mine. He popped on the screen and everyone on the couch said, "Mom, he is so old, everyone will pick younger kids, so let's pick him!"

We started reading about him and it said he was doing above average in school which made Meghan smile since she is so focused on her grades. And they are about the same age. He grabbed our hearts so without further ado here is Onesmus!
He is at Rubaya Child Development Center, if any of the people over there see him, please tell him how excited we are! If you would like to start reading the blogs I put the link bottom of the screen to Compassion. Or you can start at www.boomama.net and read her blog.

Happy Valentine's Day

What can you say about the boy that stole your heart and then grew into the man who has kept it all these years?

I could tell you about the first Valentine's Day as married kids we had and the beautiful roses he gave me, and the biggest fight of our married life. Someone (me) had neglected to tell the other one that maybe just maybe I had a few more bills when we got married than he knew about.

Or the one that Katie reminded me of last night when he got me a bracelet but it was the wrong one and I got mad...and must have had a fit if my girls still remember it.

Or the one Chad reminded us of last night when I thought he didn't get me anything and I wrote him a email while I was mad and hurt. Even though if I had waited just a few more minutes I would have heard the doorbell ringing with a delivery.

What can I say, for whatever reason Chad loves me! This Valentine's Day I woke up earlier than normal because I was excited to see what he had done. He didn't disappoint me, a note in his own handwriting just like so many years ago, flowers and a cute little keepsake box. It was a good morning!

As he is getting ready to leave he remembers that he also had my watch fixed. The one I had when we first got married. That has been in my drawer for years, he remembered and fixed it. Then he forget that he did it...

How does this happen to our men?

Last night Meghan's boyfriend called asking for...HELP! He is having a hard time deciding on what to get her for Valentine's Day so he thought he would ask her mom.

It was a very strange feeling emailing him a list of ideas. Chad had a knowing look on his face and said something profound, "he doesn't realize the point of this holiday is to know her so well he can find something that just will thrill her!"

Oh at this point I was thinking HE GETS IT! Pride was starting to set in at how well he has learned from past holiday failures.

So I'm typing away and Chad looks me in the eye and says, "What about gum, she really likes gum."

Gum...that is what he thinks will make a young lady's heart swoon? At this point I'm a little nervous over my own Valentine, if he thinks Meghan will like gum, my gift may be breath mints!

Just maybe God has this same reaction...

Last night something came up that involved Katie Bell, or should I say an email came in from one of her teachers. The teacher I'm sure from the tone of her email had a hard day, actually just the thought of teaching middle school gives me a head ache!

Anyway, as I read the email my first response was.."how dare she?" of course I hit the reply button and started typing, thankfully God had put Chad on the couch so he could say, "erase that!"


Having the ability to write lots of words sometimes is not a good thing! We did re-think what to say and wrote back to the teacher.



But the point of this post is two-fold, I woke up this morning thinking, even though what the teacher said was 100% true, it still made me mad, because that is my baby girl she was talking about! I thought of that verse that says "Satan is the accuser of the brethren" then the next instant I thought of God saying "if we love our children being sinful, how much more does He love us" (very loose paraphase). I just wonder if sometimes when Satan shows up to accuse me of something 100% true if God wants to get right in that face and say, "you're right but she is mine, and I love her with everything I have!"



The second point of this post is to tell Katie, I love you!

I thought after the toddler years I would be able to pay attention in church...wrong again!

When the girls were tiny, I looked forward to the days of being able to go to church and actually sing the songs and hear the entire message! Lauren turned 9 last summer and I thought my time had arrived but alas I was not prepared for the teen years of church.

This week because of the stomach bug only Meghan and I made it to church. Everything was fine on the way there, went to Sunday school and then found a seat in the sanctuary with her and a young man that has an interest in her.

That is when I realized the teen years may be worse than the toddler years. They whispered, they fidgeted, they did NOT sing, they wrote notes, they chewed gum, they fidgeted more, they laughed even though the sermon was not funny at that point!

I shushed, I mouthed "be quiet", "be still". And then finally I remembered the trick to making them behave as toddlers, the all important pinch. Now I realize some of you would never pinch your children but I think a good pinch can be helpful.

I pinched the young man sitting on my right, and he jumped, and looked at Meghan saying "She pinched me!" Meghan had a flash back to younger years and remember that the pinching gets progressively harder if a small pinch doesn't do the trick.

They both sat up a little straighter, they sang, they listened and I realized that in many ways the teen years resemble the toddler years! So just like the toddler years it may be years before I get to hear a sermon from start to finish without having to pinch someone!

Stop doing wrong, learn to do right

This morning I started reading in Isaiah and paused at the point where God says, 'stop doing wrong and learn to do right.' What struck me when I read that verse is how I have stopped doing wrong in a lot of cases but have I learned to do right?

I think I spend alot of my time in neutral, not doing wrong but not doing what God would consider right. As I was thinking through what doing right really meant, I keep thinking of "Love God first and then others as yourself." That's huge! A far cry from the neutral I am prone to exist in.

Maybe that is the next level God is calling me to, I have stopped doing wrong (of course, I'm not talking perfection or even close to it) but have I made the next step to do right?

That's my thought today,


Learn to do right!


Jenny
Isaiah 1:16-19

Does your teen do this?

Meghan and her friends crack me up, they take picture after picture of themselves. Over and over. I remember trying on clothes but I guess my mom would have beat me if she had a roll of filmed developed and this was what was on it...

At first I thought it was just Meghan but after picking up one of her friends camera and asking if I could see the pictures, it was the same thing, just a different face. Literally I must have 300+ pictures of Meg's face in various poses!

Katie isn't far behind Meghan in this pursuit, but for now she is trying to get the whole process down of taking pictures of herself. I would post some here but no one needs to see a close up of an eye ball or a nose!

Just in case you need a few more examples of the lastest trends...

To my Lammy Lou,

This is Lauren's favorite lamb. My friend, Kathy, in MA had 3 new lambs born! We have always called Lauren...Lammy Lou.

I think this one is the cutest but I didn't even know they came in different colors. (I know Kathy is shaking her head.)

This one is how I always picture lambs.

Dear Lammy Lou,

Like a lamb you are soft and cuddly! You have the sweetest nature just like I picture a lamb! I know when you grow up you will turn into a sheep, and Jesus will be your shepherd. I am blessed that for now I get to be your earthly shepherd! And I know in the future you will have your own Lammies....way in the future!

Love you Lammy Lou!

Drama in the Smith house

Last night when I got home from work as soon as I walked in I knew May was in trouble. I wish I could tell you that it was just my mother's heart, but truthfully it was Katie being in a great mood and VOLUNTEERING to straighten up the pantry.

Sure enough, May had displayed the table manners of a monkey! That has to be Chad's biggest pet peeve. Then when he tried to talk to her it just went downhill. She just had very important phone conversations to get back to.

Just in case your wondering how come Katie was happy, it would be because her nick name is "the one with the hygiene of a yak". I'm not for sure I know what that would mean in real life, but at our table it means one who has no need for napkins, food on your face is fine!