A Living Sacrifice

Romans 12:1 - "I beseech you, therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."

Samuel was a living sacrifice.

Hannah prayed for him,
begged God for him.
But I don't think she did it
for the reasons most women
want children.

Most women want a child to raise.
Someone to care for,
Someone to love.

But not Hannah...
She would not have offered her
only son if that's what she wanted.
Hannah wanted something
to lay at the feet of her God.

She wanted to present her Lord
a living sacrifice.
She wanted something in her life
to count for God.

When she saw Peninah's kids
running around
she probably thought
if I had a child, God,
I would give him right back to you!
Because I love you...
And all that I am,
and all that I have
is because of who you are!

Samuel was her living sacrifice...
to her God.

Organizational Ideas - It's not what you think!

I read an article today in a nameless magazine
It had to do with different organizing projects
in people's homes.



 One lady organizes all her tableclothes...
hangs them on pant hangers...
and then writes on them the length of each one.
Really?
Do people actually do this?
Maybe I would do this also
If I had more than one...



Another lady organizes
her boy's Lego collection.
Wow! I am so impressed!
We were lucky to get them all in ONE box...
much less color coded.
Honestly, I think I would miss
stepping on one stray little Lego piece
in the middle of the night!







Someone else has a spreadsheet
of all the books she is reading
with the Title, Author
and a quick synopsis of every one
and how good it was.
I actually like this idea.
I love anything to do with books.
This sounds fun to me...
I'll probably try this...
or.. I'll probably think about it forever
and never actually get around to doing it...
I have lots of great ideas...I'm like that!








This other lady has 75 spices
hanging in her cupboard.
I have spices hanging in my cupboard...
but NOT 75!
I don't use the ones I have.
They DO look nice though
all hanging on their little IKEA racks.
Matter of fact, they look so cute hanging there
that I keep buying new IKEA bottles
to put on the racks...
And then going out and buying
new spices to put in them...
even though I'll probably never use them.
But I feel very organized.
And IF I ever DO need them...
there they are!

The last one is the best.
She has a file on her computer
where she puts everything that she has stored away.
OK...I don't have enough organizationese
to even wrap my mind around this.
Maybe I'll be like this when I grow up.
I wonder if she has on there
where I put my glasses?

Favorite Movie Lines

We have favorite one liners in our house:
Mostly from movies over the years.

Here's some of our favorites:

1. "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"
Wizard of Oz
(We use this when Dad's talking to us and we don't want to listen)









2. "Doesn't it just make your feet itch to dance?"
Shirley Temple
(Don't remember which movie but I'm pretty sure
she said something like this in every movie.)



3. "Laugh it up, furball"
I won't even say what this is from...if you don't know...I can't help you!










4. "So, Peter, you've become a pirate."
Grama Wendy in Hook
(Just so you know, if you look up Hook in

Google Images...you get lots of crochet pics)









5. "Go Away! Read some books!"
"Do you not realize I have had diarrhea since Easters?"
"Beneath the clothes, we find a man, and beneath the man we find his...nucleus."
Nacho Libre
(We don't like this movie...REALLY)
(I won't share the quote about stretchy pants, cause you'll all think I'm unspiritual!)



6. "Quick as a flash, I whipped my Edsel around"
(OK...I'm pretty sure 'quick as a flash' and 'whipped' cannot be in the same sentence with Edsel!)
"My whole body's a weapon"
(Russell uses this one a lot...we ignore him...refer to number 1.)
"Sun really beats down on a metal car"
(I honestly don't know why we like this one! Some weird quirk in our nature, I'm sure)
"Drop dead, that's who!"
(This is my personal favorite. It's like saying "You Too!" when you have no reason to.)
These were all from The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.








7. "Talk about your fixer upper"
Lion King
(We say this a lot while driving through Idaho and Montana!) 




8. "Don't know, don't care..."
Cuzco - Emperor's New Groove
(This one fits soooo many occasions)











9. "Look at that sky...talk about blue"
Not sure what it's from.
(Helpful during awkward moments)



10."Now THAT was Julie"
"It pains me so..."
"Look out, Sally"
Rocket Man
(I had a house full of boys...they laugh at gross stuff!)



11. "And I am about to raise you right off the pavement!"
From Muppet Christmas Carol

(The boys says this reminds them of me! I'm offended...
I might sound something like this while defending my young! 
I love saying that...makes them sound like porpoises or something!) 





12. "Keep the change, you filthy animal."
Home Alone



13. "Ahoy, I sail!"
What about Bob
(I recently went sailing...said this a million times!)



Good Memories!

Support the Weak

Sometimes people are struggling...
in their Christian walk.
They come to church,
they smile,

they shake hands
they do everything you are doing.

Yet, their faith is weak.
They might be struggling to believe
what they have been taught,
what the Bible says.

It may be some Mother's child...
that needs your help.
She may be praying for someone to help them.

We come in, we do what we have to do...
and then we leave
and go back to OUR lives.

We forget to look people in the eye...
to see the struggling spirit within them.
Cause we have things to do...
and we're busy.

Church isn't about getting everything done...
It's about fellowship with Jesus Christ
and each other.
It's about exhorting each other.

Look for that struggling soul...
so that you might come alongside
to encourage them in the faith.
To be that example to them.
To be their friend.
To answer that Mother's Prayer.

To glorify Jesus Christ!

Cinco de Mayo

In honor of Cinco de Mayo...
I'm putting my Cinco de Mayo memories on my blog!

You're probably thinking,
"Who on earth has Cinco De Mayo memories"
And if you are thinking that...
You didn't grow up in LA

It's a big deal when you grow up in LA.
Actually it's a really big deal when you're a kid...
cause it means you get to do fun things at school instead of work!
Like making Pinatas...

First of all, Cinco De Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day.
It's celebrated in order to remember the Mexican Army's
victory over the French Army at the Battle of Pueblo, 1862.
Mexican Independence Day is sometime in Sept...I think.

My mom would take me to Olvera street.
(Oldest Part of LA)
And we would walk around and look at all the cool stuff they had for sale.

Just me and Mom...all day long.
You could smell the tamales cooking...
And taste the Mexican Wedding Cake.
Watch all the different people walking around
















in brightly colored traditional wear.
Mariachi bands...
And the sun always shining!

Then when it got hot...
You could go in the church where it was cool and dark












and take a little rest...
Not to mention watching everything going on in the Catholic church.
Always priests runnin' around splashing water on something.

Then into the Avila Adobe -
Oldest Bldg. in LA

My Mom loved all the old historic places...
thus, so do I.












Then on the way home we would stop at Beaches Market...
Say hi to my aunt, and buy stuff to go home and make Tacos.

Great memories...
Thanx, Mom

Woodworking?

So I decided a couple of years ago
to take a beginning woodworking class.

The teacher had some ideas for us
if we didn't know what we wanted to do.
(That's kinda all the time for me)

So he showed me a picture of a double adirondack chair.
I was very excited...
although a little nervous wondering if I could pull it off.
I couldn't!
But he helped me...
(Translate that to 'he did most of the work for me.'
Although he did let me use the drill and all the fun machines.)

So here was OUR first project...














So this year I took the same class
and decided to make two ladder bookshelves for Aaron's room.
(Well, they were gonna be for the living room, but I kinda messed
them up also, so they went in Aaron's room) Sorry Bear.

And actually it wasn't my fault...
I didn't know what I was doing...
(See above)
and the teacher should have known that when he saw me coming!

Anyway, the first one I kinda messed up, although it looks fine.
But it doesn't match the second one...which I did perfectly!
(That means I followed the directions this time and it turned out like it was supposed to)

So, here's my second project...























Now, I have a third project...a sling chair from Ana White's site.
She has all kinds of plans for people who don't know what they're doing.
(See above)

Here's what my third project will be...













Now, I want to learn to weave!

My God of Impossible Things

You know how you think there is nothing
that could make this situation better?

Things look pretty much dismal
and there doesn't seem any way out of the mess
you've made of things.

Or maybe it isn't even your mess...

So you pray about it...

And then God does something
absolutely miraculous...

and you marvel...

even though He has done this kind of thing
over and over again in your life...

you still marvel...

then you ask the Lord
to forgive you
for not believing...
for not having faith...

and then you glory in your God
of Impossible Things!