Lergic Reaction

Today in Sunday School
while handing out graham crackers
covered with peanut butter:

Me: "Anyone allergic to peanuts?"

Kate: "I am."

Me: (While panicking and imagining myself
having to tell her parents what I've done
while frantically trying to find an epipen!)
"Oh my goodness!...give me that back!
Go wash your hands RIGHT NOW!

Kate: "...ok..."

Kate:"Teacher, what does 'lergic' mean?"

...hmmm...

Me: "Katie...do you eat peanut butter at home?"

Kate: "Yep...I love peanut butter."

Me: "Yeah...that's what I thought.

I love Christmas!

I love Christmas!
I know sometimes this is not popular...
But I can't help it.
I love everything about it.

When everyone is saying,
"We haven't even had Thanksgiving yet!!"
I'm secretly thinking,
"Hurry up Thanksgiving,
Christmas is coming!!!"
Not that I'm not thankful!
I just can hardly wait.

Things I love about Christmas:
Not in order, by the way,
just as they come to me...

1. I love the fact that you can tell others
about Jesus without them even realizing you are.
People are way more tolerant of your witnessing
during Christmas season.

2. I love all the sparkly lights!
They just cheer me up, somehow.
When the kids were little we would drive
through neighborhoods and look at lights.
It's free! Which is one of the reasons we did it!

3. I LOVE Christmas carols.
Not during the rest of the year...
but I can start listening to them before Thanksgiving.
They're such happy, hopeful songs.
Songs of the awaited Saviour of the world.
Who would not want to sing about that.

4. I love that families get together.
(Whether they like it or not!)
My family growing up never focused
on the things we didn't agree on...
We focused on our love for each other.
It's OK if we don't have the same opinion about something.
Let's enjoy each other.
So far I have had at least one or two kids
around at Christmas.
I'm thankful for that.
I told Russell the first year that we
didn't have any kids coming...
I want to spend Christmas in Manhatten!
(Don't ask...it's a long story)

5. I love all the decorations!
I love putting them up...
I love looking for new ideas on the net...
(my new favorite site: Craftgawker.com)
I love seeing them in someone else's house...
(so I can steal the idea next year)
and I LOVE opening my Christmas chest
of decorations and seeing all the stuff I love!

6. I love shopping.
Now this for sure isn't popular!
But I love seeing all the weird people...
and normal ones, too.
The music playing in the stores...
Buying things for people I love...
(Figuring out the perfect gift)
Everyone is usually joyful and happy.
Russell and I love Black Friday.
Always have.
All the commotion and noise and activity.
(Not in Wal-Mart though)
This year we were sick...
Had to shop online.
Not near as fun.

6. I love all festivity
of a Christmas Program.
I love knowing people will come out
to see a Christmas Program when
they normally will never come out to church.
I love knowing they are hearing the gospel...
and, just maybe, it will change their life forever.
Like it did mine.

7. I love the anticipation. Getting everything
ready. Making gifts, planning menus, making lists.
I even kinda like the stress. I work well under
pressure, so it pushes me to get things done.

8. And most of all, I love the fact
that someone loved me enough to leave
his kingdom, come to this wretched earth...
and die for me so I could spend eternity with Him.
What a wonderful Saviour we have!

So even though Christmas is very commercial,
it doesn't have to be in my heart.
It's a time of joy, anticipation, and Thanksgiving,
and a celebration of the Christian Life!

If you don't like this season...
that's OK...but likewise let it be OK
that I love it!

Addie

Yesterday was my oldest son's Birthday,
so I thought I would remember some of
the things that make him Adam:

We had friends that used to make furniture.
They made us a beautiful lamp...
Winnie the Pooh and all the Pooh characters.
It was really beautiful!
When I was in the bathroom...
For maybe 2 minutes...
I realized I couldn't hear him.
(With Adam, that always meant something bad!)
He had climbed up on the dresser
and with his little cobbler hammer
absolutely cracked it to pieces.
Our friends never spoke to us again.

When my Aunt came to visit...
he decided to sample her makeup.
One at a time, all over the wall.
Mentholatum, lipstick, etc.
The room smelled like Mentholatum forever.
It was great during cold season!

Once we were getting ready to take
Aaron to a Dr. appointment.
"Adam, we are getting ready to go,
get on some clean pants."
So he begins to take his pants
off OVER his tennis shoes.
(Tennies were huge back then)
"Adam, that won't work, you have
to take off your shoes first."
"No, I have a good way!"
"Well, you better hurry, cause I'm going."
So he gets his pants down around
his shoes...and gets them stuck.
They wont come down or up.
"Adam, hon, I gotta go. Go down
with Grampa at the other house."
As I drive off, I see in my rear view
mirror, Adam running down the drive,
crying, with his pants dragging behind
him, still stuck on his shoes.
My Dad still loves to talk about that one.

Or the time he decided to paint his model
on a wobbly 6" wide library table...
in our new home...
over our new carpet...
with red paint!
You know what happened.
An hour later with the
emergency carpet cleaning people...
it looked almost as good as new...
...almost...

 Or when he made fake blood...
smeared it all over himself,
dripping out of his mouth...
and came up to me crying.
He almost wound up really bleeding
after that one.
(Although, he might want to consider
a career in makeup!)

I speak of all the funny things,
and all the things he did wrong.
But there were so many wonderful times
in between.
We learned to be Mommy and son together.
Neither one of us knew what we were doing.
He was the guinea pig...the one we tried
everything on first.
...sorry, son...
But just so you know...
We are very proud of you.
And thank our God for the day
you were born.
(Well, I thank God for the day after
you were born! The day you were
born I'm pretty sure I was telling your
Dad that this was never happening again!)

Anyway, we Love you.
Keep serving God...
And raising your family for His glory!
And make memories of your own!

Lazy Kirra

There's nothing like a soft warm kitty
when you're sick.

They come up on the bed...
look at you with sad eyes
as if to say, 'I'm so sorry you're sick...I love you.'
Then they snuggle those little warm, fuzzy bodies
right on in...purr so contentedly,
putting you to sleep...

Realistically, they're saying,
'Wow, I'm glad you're sick,
now I can sleep all day without looking lazy.'

It's OK...I just lie to myself
thinking they actually care about my well being.
And besides, who else in the house
wants to lay with me all day when I'm sick?
Answer me that???

Percy Did it!

You know, when your kids leave home...
it's really hard to find someone to blame everything on.

It's either you...or him.
That's pretty much all you have.
Well, you could blame it on the cat or dog...
but that's grasping at straws.
After all, everyone knows the cat
didn't leave her shoes in front of the door!
Kitties don't even have shoes...
and if they did they would be really tiny...
and cute...
OK, sorry...rabbit trail...


So you have to be very creative.
"Sunny, why don't you come over and visit.
We'll do something really fun!"
"JJ, could you come and stay in the house
for a couple of days while we go out of town?"
"Al, are you guys coming to visit this week?"
"Adam and Heather, why don't you bring
that sweet little baby over so we can love on her!"

They don't realize
you're doing this so you can blame
them all next week
for your discrepancies!

Then, it's...
"Who broke this?"
"I don't know...probably JJ,
he was here!"

"Who left the milk out?"
"It was Sunny!
She LOVES milk."

"Who made a mess in here?"
"Al and Lizzie were here!"

"What happened to all the cookies?"
"Heather happened to the cookies."

So, today, Russell gets in the frig and says...
"What happened to the frig?
I had it all organized a couple of days ago.
At this point, I must confess...I never, never put stuff
back in the frig in the same spot.
I'll come close...but it's pretty much
all about, cram it in wherever it will fit...
and it doesn't even really have to fit.
As long as I can close the door...I'm happy!
Never mind that the next time
someone opens the door
the ketchup commits hari kari!
(You just gotta make sure you're not the next someone!)

He gets very upset when I don't keep the frig organized.
So, I was so glad we had a visitor this weekend.
I could happily say,
"Sunny did it!"

For the Love of Christ

We need God's Word.

It has Power!
Real Power!

It has the Power to make us love Jesus Christ.

You know when you read the word,
and you feel so close to Him...
like you can almost reach out and touch Him?
And you love Him all the more.

That's the Power of God's Word.
To make us love Jesus Christ even more.
And then all the other things we do
will flow out of that love for Him.

But we try to do things for Christ
without spending time in His Word.
Good things...Sunday School, Witnessing,
Being a good wife...etc.
And those are great!
But if they are not coming out of our love for Christ.
They are worthless...fleshly activities.

One time while complaining to Mrs. Bemis about
feeling like I was going through the motions in my life...
regarding church, ss, witnessing, etc.
She asked me, "Why did you start doing those things in the first place?"
"Because I loved Jesus Christ." I replied.
"Then that's what you need to do again." she said.
How is it possible that I had forgotten that?

Why did God call David, 'a man after mine own heart'"
Because he loved God so much! He wasn't perfect.
he didn't necessarily wear all the right clothes...
talk the right talk and do everything perfectly
all the time.
He loved God.
That set him apart from every other man on earth!

Everything we do must flow out of our love for Him!
Not because we HAVE to...
Not because Pastor expects us to...
That's Religion!

But the Power of God's Word is
to make you love Him so much
That you ache to do things for Him.


Anything else is...nothing...
and there will be no rewards for that on Judgement Day.

Grama Musings...

 Seeing my baby with his baby...priceless.

What I used to think:  I'm not picking that baby up...
     there's nothing wrong with him and he just wants to be held.
What I think now:  There's no reason for that sweet little thing
      to be sittin there crying when I'm right here!

Conversation at the breakfast table:
Adam: She kept us up most of the night!
Dad: This is an adventure!
Adam: Somehow I thought my adventure would include
gold and swords...not diapers and poop!

Watching a little baby...
turn a young couple
into responsible parents.

Even when shes not here,
I can see her little face...
in my minds eye.

Fighting over who gets to hold her.

Conversation overheard at Penneys:
"Step away from the baby section!"