Sharing

Stumbled across this great article and had to share!  I just love her blog. It always has so many encouraging posts..... I have wanted to link and quote her many times but I find that getting time at the comp is increasingly difficult and I am left with nothing to do but write posts in my head. Wonderful, intriguing, insightful, genius posts that I know you all are just dying to read (sorry, sarcasm was a bit much there, wasn't it?).

 Speaking of unwritten posts...... I am still getting in more reading than normal and have to laugh at myself. If I were to write a post every day I am sure that you could tell which author I am currently immersed in..... One day you would read and laugh to yourself  'Oh, she is in the midst of a Bronte' book' or 'Definitely reading Kate Douglas Wiggins' or perhaps you would nod your pretty little head and say 'She is definitely reading Prentiss today' and then filled with horror you would say something like 'Good gracious! Please tell me she isn't reading Jeanette Oake!!!!' (that is for you E! :o) I find that, when I read, my thoughts change patterns to match that of the book which I am reading. If the author(ess) is generous in it's use of good language and a higher level of vocabulary then I find myself thinking in a like manner, if the writer is large in religious sentiment I find my thoughts mulling over the ideas presented and spending more time thinking about my stand on the arguments presented, etc...... Now, maybe this is more noticeable to me because I spend so much of my time with small children, I sometimes wonder if I have been reduced to thinking like a 6 yo! :o) It is also why I choose to be very careful with what I read. Much of the current popular literature would not lend itself to improving my mind but would instead lend itself to the hindrance of the growth in my faith that I desire. If my thoughts are filled with romantic trash that does nothing but excite the flesh and lend itself to discontentment with my spouse and/or my surroundings, what have I gained? If my thoughts are focused on that which are diametrically opposed (though oft times cloaked as the newest and greatest in "christian" literature) to the Christian walk, will my Christian faith grow as it aught?  Or will I, though the battle is hard enough without sabotage, make myself stumble and scatter so many stones in my path that I refuse to walk the path and instead stay as an infant in my faith?

 Anyhow, enough of my ramblings. My time on the comp is up.....  Hope you enjoy the link :o)

Amnesia?

 I am beginning to wonder if I have amnesia...... I thought I lived in the Pacific NW, where the weather never varies too much - never too hot or too cold, where Dec. is synonymous with gray, rainy days, where our river NEVER froze, where cold spells lasted only 1, maybe  2 days, where bundling up in 16 layers was never necessary,  where where wind so cold it takes your breath away was something you only read about, and where frozen water pipes were so rare they were almost unheard of.......... I must have been mistaken...... or maybe I moved and don't remember!  Seriously. what is happening?!??!  The river outside our house (which is a tidal river) has been frozen over the last few mornings and we are seeing temps in the teens!!!  It is absolutely crazy.  I wanted to post pics but they are all still on my camera. Oh well, I didn't go out early enough today to get a pic of the river frozen all the way across anyways. The kiddie pool on my parents deck was full of rainwater that froze solid. There is less now because the kids think it great fun to chip ice out of it.:o) Milo's (our bunny) water bottle is frozen solid every morning and the water bottles in our car are too, the aforementioned ice chips don't melt, and everything crunches when you walk. ( I thought about waxing poetic on you but my brain can't seem to think of the right words to glamorize the cold :oP ) This weather is amazing and I find the cold isn't so bad (since I don't have to go out! lol). At least it is dry and the sun has been shining! :o) I think that I prefer sunny and cold to the normal gray, dreary, moderate temperature rain.

  On another train of thought...... we went to the zoo this week!!!! It was too cold for most of the African animals but we still had a great time. I know there are many families that make regular visits to the zoo but we have never been able to do that.  We had been given tickets so that we could all get in free so we went. It has been 3.5 yrs since we were last there.  J (now 6.5) remembers it a little, B (now 5) not at all and of course my little man (now 2.5) wasn't even there.... Hopefully I will be able to write another post on our trip, complete with pics(of which I took an embarrassing 300+, don't worry you will not have to see them all! lol).  My SIL and her kids met us there and that really made our trip extra special. Woohoo for fun days! They are way too too few and far between....... but I guess that just means we appreciate them all the more when they come.  :o)

*Blush*

 I must apologize for my post yesterday.... obviously stress was getting to me and I was rather whiny. Your kind words are MUCH appreciated though. I am feeling better today about life in general and am actually really liking our current set up. Even the kitchen is going to be o.k. :oP  When we were upstairs I had to constantly worry about the kids getting into my parents and/or sibling stuff, breaking things, etc.... downstairs they really can't get into too much trouble. :o) The space is actually bigger than my house (even after the remodel) and I get to sleep in my bed!!!  I missed my bed. There are couches down there. We haven't had a couch in ever so long and I am really liking it.  Mom's library is down there too and, since I can't seem to sleep when my hubby is out working, I am reading after the kids get to bed! Right now I am reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and am enjoying it. I somehow missed that one in highschool..... Mom said that I didn't want to read it because of some negative impression I had of it. :o/  
I love to read........   
 

Moving

 Well, today is the day my folks return! We have missed them like crazy!!! Last night at dinner my 2.5 yo prayed "Papa home, Papa home. Amen!"  :o)  Now the plan has been that we would have our demolding and refinishing of the interior finished and would move back to our house when the came home. Is this the move we make today? No. Sometimes I wonder why we bother to plan. NOTHING ever goes as it should. The disasters that were hiding beneath our sheet rock were too much to conquer in 1 short month. *SIGH* So, my brother, T, has generously agreed to moving out of the basement and is moving to my brother J's house with his family (J has been an a lot of help on the house and I really appreciate him housing T also) . We are going to the basement. I am trying to be filled with gratitude that we have a place to stay and our own space but I am struggling with frustration. I hate moving and did not want yet another upheaval in the kids lives. Then there is the very limited kitchen downstairs...... with our diet cooking 3 meals a day is monumentous anyways, top that with a tiny kitchen and no dishwasher and you have a stressed out mama. Most of our food stuffs is packed away and what we didn't pack has been consumed.  To top it all off the kids and I have colds and I feel cruddy. I have such a hard time having the right attitude when I don't feel good. Sigh, probably an area I need to work on........ Anyhow, all that to say that the comp I have been using to post is upstairs in Mom's office so I will probably not be on here much until we move into our house.
 Well, off to hauling my stuff downstairs! 

Goodbye Goodbye?

  Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed, that phone etiquette seems to be a thing of the past? Increasingly I am noticing that people do not say "Goodbye" at the end of conversations, they just say something like "um, well, ok." then  CLICK, they're gone.  Now maybe it is my good upbringing :o), maybe my time spent as a receptionist, maybe just my own quirkiness, but I just really find it rude. I am left feeling like we didn't really finish talking............... like there was no closure to the conversation, like I've been jilted.
 lol! O.k. that was a for all of you melodrama lovers out there, but seriously, WHAT IS SO HARD ABOUT SAYING GOODBYE?!?!?!  Maybe I should have labeled this post "Pet Peeve #1" or something.*GRIN* 

So, in honor of that underused word, Goodbye.
      Goodbye                     Goodbye
                      Goodbye                         Goodbye        Goodbye                                Goodbye

            :o)     GOODBYE      :o)         

Edna Mae Burnam

 My girls are DESPERATE to learn to play musical instruments and, as Grandma and Papa have a piano (which I am playing almost obsessively every day..... one of the things I have missed the most in our current house has been my piano. 2+ yrs without one has been too long!), J, especially, is anxious to get started. B wants to do the violin but i am hoping that teaching them both the basics on piano will
 A: Be a good foundation for whatever instrument they want to play 
 B: Save me money because piano is the only thing I really know anything about (my little bit of guitar knowledge is too minuscule to count)
 C: Be enjoyable for them
 D: Build their confidence and help teach them perseverance

Earlier this week I had made my own "work page' for them and they really enjoyed it. Not being very confident in my skills as a teacher, I decided to look through my folks' stash of beginner books. Having 7 children who have all had various amounts of piano training means she has a pretty decent stash of pre-loved (or hated haha) level A/1 books. As I was sorting through I stumbled across an absolute gem (that I am going to beg and plead for).  It is Edna Mae Burnam's (you were wondering when I was getting to that name, weren't you? :o) Piano Course 'Step by Step' book 1. It is copyrighted 1960 (copyright is actually in roman numerals) and it appears from the scribbles that my Grandma taught her kids and her grand-kids with it. Opening it and seeing the familiar pages, the wonderful illustrations, Grandma's little scribbles and notations, the colored stars she always put on for us, the names of so may of us written in it, etc.....  brought back so many memories. I could vividly recall sitting on the bench next to Grandma, hammering away at the "hard" exercises while her parrot "Emily" screamed in the background and her little Yorkie hid in her bedroom.  Her house was always tidy but every nook and cranny was filled with plants, birds in their cages, a little dog and a sleek, well fed kitty. I can remember the sounds and smells, the softness of her blue sweater, the hardness of the bench and how hard it was to keep from fidgeting.  The cupboards were filled with lucky charms and other sugary treats and, as her labor of love to the grand-kids, she would teach us piano. Her patience with us(and our impatience with her) and her love for the piano are so vivid in my memory. She played so beautifully until arthritis robbed her of the ability. I can remember lurking outside her house (where she couldn't see me) to hear her play. I always hoped that someday I could play as beautifully but now I realize just how gifted she was/is and so I don't hold out much hope for that. She loved to teach- be it piano, horticulture, or her life story, she loved to share what she knew.  Another thing that stuck out to me in the book was how often Nathan's name was in it.... then I realized that he was probably the last grand-kid that she taught music to, and Nathan loved music.  He could play pretty much anything he picked up, he was just naturally gifted in music.

  Anyhow, I think that I will be using the Step by Step book to teach my girls. It just seems right somehow. Now I need to call and talk to my Grandma..... :o)

Out of the mouths of children..... and other randomness

In our local area there is a Bridal Bible college. Because of that we get an influx of students each fall. As my children have gotten older they have become braver around these kids and seek out those that look friendly to them to become their new "best friends". Now, in case you didn't know this, there always seems to be an epidemic of twitterpation that accompanies these students. Many of the students engage in flirting and such, even while at church...... Now, my kids have been raised with some pretty strict ideas on what is appropriate and what is not and, though the eldest is only six, they know that kissing and touchy-feely friendliness is for when you are married. :o)  Anyhow, so Sunday night we had our Pastor appreciation potluck. My kids and I came late as we had to get dinner at home (potlucks and food intolerances are not a good combo) and so there was just 1 table left. We ended up sitting alone at this table which was right next to the BC students that had come. My kids were delighted to see their new friends were sitting so close and occasionally would engage them in conversation....... I didn't think much of it.  When we got home my 6 yo was telling about all of the Rebecca's that she knows, 1 of which was a student that had been at the dinner. Now, truth be told there were 2 students named Rebecca there but my girls have only met 1 so when, just because I love to hear my kids describe people because their insight is always so great, I asked which one she said (in a very matter of fact tone) "She was the one sitting next to the boy that couldn't keep his hands off of her" she then proceeded to tell me who all of the other Rebeccas were while I struggled to keep from hysterics. What a hoot! Children just say it like it is!  ( Just so no one gets a wrong idea of what goes on at our potlucks ;o),  he just had his arm around her shoulders or was rubbing her back - pretty discreet but obviously not discreet enough! LOL!!!)

 I was going to fill this with other random tid-bits (like- Mom, I rearranged your living room. Hope you like it! :o)  but I am tired and my sweet hubby actually got home at a decent time, so I am going to go pour forth my 40,000 pent up words upon his poor unsuspecting self. :o)

Lessons

I feel that God is teaching me a lot lately. I find myself struggling with deciding the difference between radical faith and charging on ahead on my own course and expecting God to "bless me and make it all right". I have been learning to praise Him regardless and to trust.  Fully. Completely. Unconditionally.  My friend "E" wrote a great post here and I was really touched by the quote at the end. (Thanks for sharing "E"!!!) I keep thinking about it and mulling it over. The whole quote was great but the last line really got me  "A miracle in the making, she had come to realize, at the time often appeared to be an insurmountable tragedy."  (By Thera Ferre Bjorn)  What a wonderful statement!  That my insurmountable issues may just be miracles in the making..... What joy there is in such a thought!  How much easier it would be to stand firm through trials if I could but always view them as miracles in the making......

 On a slightly different note, I am reading Job. Um, have you ever read that book? Amazing!  I actually started out by "randomly" reading the last few chapters which detail God's response to Job and his friends. Wow!  Who are we to ever question Him?  His response was so beautiful and so powerful that I have decided to go back to the beginning of Job and read it straight through. It has been awhile since I read it and I am looking forward to reading it again.  There is just so much there and is a reminder to me that I need to avoid the current trend of humanizing God. He is so much more than we could ever imagine! I am so grateful that He is not confined by human limitations, that He is so infinitely superior to us in every way. So comforting to know that I am in the hands of One who is so incomprehensibly more than I!

Now, off to start school with the kids! :o) 

When it rains.....

Have you ever noticed how storms seem to come in groups? When it starts raining it often pours?  We have been in a season of storms lately...... a season when there never seems to be just 1 thing going wrong. We have been in this stormy season for over a year and I have to admit that I would love to see a little sun. This house project is providing many downpours some of which are we a: are financially challenged ;oP (how's that for political correctness? LOL!) b: are having some literal storminess that may lead to flooding (not exactly going to speed us up and help us achieve our deadline of 3 wks)  c: we keep finding ugly "surprises".  Then today, with wind howling, power flickering, and rain pouring, my hubby came "home" to find that a ladder had fallen onto out car. Evidently there had been a ladder leaned up against my folks' garage and, as we are always busy herding children, carrying stuff, etc...., we never noticed it. The wind knocked it over and it broke our windshield! It did not break it entirely but put a bad enough crack that it will have to be replaced. I am trying to focus on being thankful that it was only the windshield and not the hood that will need replaced. The damage could have been so much worse....... Although focusing on these things does not bring total consolation it is helping me maintain some sense of sanity....... I have to admit that my response to my husband was " Figures..... the way things are going it doesn't surprise me at all". I am hopeful that through these storms I am growing and learning to praise my Lord no matter what. I love the first verse of 'Praise You In This Storm' by Casting Crowns...... it fits my life so well right now. I really thought He would have stepped in by now and saved the day, but I am trying to keep praising Him in the midst of the storms with what little strength I have. He is faithful and I am so blessed to be His child!!!

Frustrations

 This week has been so crazy..... trying to move everything out of our house and into my parents garage, trying to get the house gutted, trying to get settled here, and other craziness.School had to be put on hold this week. We had already done more than a 1/4 of the work for the school year so I am sure that one more week off will not be the end of the world, but I do hate to get out of the routine. I am just thankful for the flexibility of home schooling!  I have been trying like crazy to figure out how we are going to put the house back together -what rooms go where, etc..... and discovered that I had remembered my measurements wrong. Measuring the outside of our house it measures 21.5' x 36' so our square footage will be about 750 sq ft. I realize it's only 50 sq ft smaller than I had thought it would be but when there is so little space 50 is big! Much as this remodel will be an improvement, I find myself continually frustrated as I try to fit everything we need into such a small space. If money were no object we could afford to do more organizational helps (such as closet organizers as there is no room for dressers), of course if money were no object we wouldn't be living there! If I were naturally an organized person it would help but, though I hate clutter and love tidiness, I have no idea how to achieve that on a regular. *SIGH*  Trying to count my blessings.... and figure out what we can and can't live without. My idealistic nature gets in the way of this task. There is so much I want for our kids....... Oh well, that's my rant for today!  :oP 

Playing Catch-up

Well, it's been awhile and a lot has happened. First, you may have noticed, that I have a new blog in my blog list. This is because my parent's are going to indonesia on a mission trip. My Mom started a blog so that anyone who is interested can keep up no what's happening while they are there. The blog is called 'moos from indo' and I would just love to have you all stop over and read her stuff and leave her nice comments :o)  
 While my folks are gone we are house sitting and keeping an eye on my 12 yo brother. Should be exciting..... Actually the "exciting" thing is that it has become apparent that we have to gut our house and put it back together before my folks get back in 3 1/2 wks. For those of you who don't know, my husband and I bought a fixer-upper a few yrs ago (you know, back BEFORE the housing market took a dive). We were never going to live there but , ahem, we do and we have for a little over 2 yrs. There are 5 of us and the current living space is less than 500 sq ft. Nice and, um, cozy. Anyhow, there is additional space that used to be a garage but has never been finished....... We were just going to finish that and then we would have almost 800 sq ft of living space, but that is not looking like the best option at this point. When we moved into that house my health took a definate turn for the worse and has been declining ever since. We discovered that there is mold in the walls, and some other problems too, that are most likely irritating my health problems. Anyhow, since we will all be moved out and a lot of the materials have been slowly purchased over the last 2 yrs we are going to go for it. We arehoping to find several guys that can help out to help insure that we can have it habitable before my folks want their house back! ;o)
  I am quite nervous....... and not a little displeased with how small my faith is. I wish I handled upheaval better....... all this is making for some very cranky kids, we are beyond broke and, like I mentioned, my health is not very good.  Good time for growing.... but I have to admit to NOT liking the painfulness of these lessons. With all of the craziness I am not sure how much I will be blogging but I will try to update occasionally. Any prayers for us during this interesting season would be much appreciated. :o)

Post XCII

In which I, the A.A. Milne "wish-I-could-be", discusses my recent rediscovery of his fabulous books

  When my parents moved they were unable to take all of their books to the new house. I was given the opportunity to peruse the "leftovers" and take what I wanted/had space for. I found several little treasures and among them was a couple rather well loved old books by A.A. Milne. I was delighted and commenced reading them almost immediately to my children.... I either hadn't noticed before, or had forgotten, just what fun could be had within the covers of these books! For instance: there are things that are more important than your 2 times table or twice times eleven. Imagine that!  I love how the  characters each are so unique and so lovable, I find myself identifying with them..... "Hmmm, you know I really feel rather like Eeyore today (thought in my best British accent- though it isn't very good- because these stories somehow grow even more wonderful with a British accent......)  or "I think I am Pooh today.... a bear of very little brain". When I read about Owl, or Kanga, Tigger, etc..., they remind me of people I know or have met.... In fact, as I have been trying to come up with "blog names" for my family I thought of us each taking a character from these books.....and we may yet! 
 I also love that there is humor for all ages hidden within each of the stories.... My kids laugh at some parts and, if hubby happens to be home and listening, he and I laugh at others, of course there are also the little specialties that only the one reading will catch (spelling and such)- like a sort of extra reward for your efforts. One could probably prattle on for hours  on the little bits of wisdom found there, favorite stories, lines, humor, etc.... but for now I will leave you with a little quote that seems to perfectly describe how I often feel.....
  The background to the quote is this: Eeyore had been "bounced" and is floating down the river on his back. He is discovered by Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, and Roo, who are playing Pooh sticks, and want to do something to save him. Pooh comes up with an idea and it is implemented. Eeyore is saved but takes all the credit and makes Pooh feel rather bad, Piglet then tries to cheer him. Then comes my favorite lines in the book:  "Pooh began to feel a little more comfortable, because when you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it." 


 There is more that I could share but I will leave you with that little gem for now...... 

Oh, to have a Milne's gift with words!



  

Update

Well, my hard drive crashed........ :o( I am still sort of hoping that we will be able to retrieve the unsaved data. I am trying not to get my hopes up but there was a lot of stuff that I was in the process of sorting so that I could save, namely this years pics. :o( To lose almost a years worth of pics makes me ill. I honestly thought I had kept up better than that but time slipped away. I had updated the business stuff a little more recently, but still not recently enough. Why can't there be some sort of warning, you know, a little message that pops up and says "Your hard drive is going to crash in 22.3 hours please back up all important data now"? It would make this so much less traumatizing! I currently have my old comp hooked up but am not planning on using it much...... Don't want to lose it too! This has been quite the wake up call for me.... I didn't realize just how much I rely on my computer! Silly me! :oP

On a cheerier note, I found a copy of Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss on sale for $3 and some change awhile back :O) and was finally able to pick it up and start reading it last night. I LOVE that book! It is crazy to read.... I relate so much to Katy/Kate/Katherine/Miss Mortimer that sometimes I feel like I am reading excerpts of my own journal!!! Very inspiring to keep-on-keeping-on.... and to adjust my attitudes and views. So nice to have a little "fluff" to read too. It's been too long since I just sat down and enjoyed a good book.... My reading of late has all been more serious stuff, good and good for me but, not "get lost in" material. ;o)

Well, past my bedtime! Goodnight! :o)

Gone for awhile

My computer died a couple days ago. :o(  Not sure when I will be back........ If it is not repairable then it will be a VERY LONG time. :o(  I am already missing my little stress reliever. Anyhow, I may post occasionaly from my folks but, if I do, it will be pretty sporadic and no more IHEARTFaces :o( 

Week 41 Challenge – Pink

    This week the photography challenge over at  I ♥ Faces is “pink” in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  I have struggled a lot with what to post……. I came up with many ideas that didn’t work out and finally decided to post this picture I took of “A” during a recent photo shoot  for her senior pics.  I think it actually  fits the theme well……..

  Oh, BTW, I recently figured out that my past entries were most likely NOT entries because I overlooked this important feature:

So, here is my first REAL entry! 

Fix-it Friday #32

This week’s FIF was a real challenge!  I could not get the color right so I decided to go with a tinted B&W….. I also added a gaussian blur around the edge to give it a softer dreamier feel….. The harsh shadows were just really difficult to deal with, that’s not all bad though as I have so many pics that are similar, I needed the practice :o)  So here is the original picture of the pretty little princess:

 

and here is my fix:

 

For more FIF fun, head on over to IHEARTFaces to see the other great fixes :o)

Sneak Peek…..

   Last night I had the privilege of taking senior pics of a friend…… “A” was so much fun to work with and very patient with this first time photographer! :o) I took around 200 photos and have not weeded through them all yet, but I couldn’t wait to process a few (probably the best) and post them! So, *drum roll please*,  here are my faves so far:

 

 

 

Doesn’t she have gorgeous eyes?!?!

I was so pleased with the processing on this next one…. very artsy for me, I tend to stick to traditional stuff.

 

I hope that she is pleased with them!  I am sure looking forward to processing more of the pics, though I have to admit that my poor old ‘photoshop elements 4’ is trying to die on me.  :o(  I hope it lasts until I can get a newer program….. Probably just another elements as the “real” photoshop is in the $600 range. :oO

Here by popular demand: My Home school curricula

Since I have a small # of blog readers, 1 request for post topic is popular demand :o) so, if you are reading this, MamaGriffith this is for you!!!

  This year I am using the First grade curriculum from My Father’s World. We are really loving it! We are currently in the review section (or at least it is review for J) in which they discuss the basics of phonics and make sure that the child has a good grasp on phonics and reading. This has been a very good refresher for J and has really helped boost her confidence. (Please note that the following is what happens most days but not all…. Some days just don’t go as well as others!)During our “opening ceremonies” (haha) I&B join us for prayer, a hymn, and memory verse. J then does her work book pages (phonics, reading, handwriting*) while they go play in the bedroom with their special school time stuff. She then does her math pages, we are using the ABeka math program. She started the first grade book near the end of last year and so is continuing with that. The younger 2 come out for our science, or whatever other subject is scheduled for the day. We are struggling to get an early enough start (due to my health issues) to get the extra stuff in as I would like. We had good intentions of doing art and Latin weekly but we have not officially started either yet. Later in the year she will have a Bible reading book added. We also read together. Our book titles and levels vary, but it is a great time to instill in them a love of great literature. On Wednesdays we have “Exploration Day” or as my children call it “Inspiration Day”. On this day we don’t have any regular work but spend the day reading books on our science subject of the week (which I get from the library), exploring outside, doing science experiments, and just plain having fun. It is great and breaks up the week into very doable pieces for me. This curriculum is based on the Charlotte Mason theory of education, which I highly recommend! I am currently reading a book called ‘For The Children’s Sake’ by Susan Schaeffer-Macaulay. Fascinating!!!

For B I am doing random bits here and there as I can. It worked well for J so I am hopeful that it will work well for B also. :o)  I have her do ‘ReadyWriter’ sheets, practice writing her letters, talk about letter sounds, and ‘Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons’. For math we fluctuate between ABeka Kindergarten, writing numbers, and dot-to-dots. We also just try to incorporate learning throughout the day in our day-to-day life stuff. :o)

So, MamaG, I hope this is what you were looking for! :o)

 

* Note: For handwriting we use the ‘Italic Handwriting Series’ by Getty & Dubay.

Fix-it Friday #31

This photo actually needed very little fixing. I just ran a noise reduction, cropped a little to straighten the background a bit, brightened it, dodged the highlights in and sharpened his eyes, dodged the shadows on his face, played with the hue/saturation, removed a few spots on his face-primarily his nose, and then sharpened for the web.  It was too cute as is so I decided against a B&W this time.  So here is the handsome little man’s original photo:

 

and here is my  first “fix”:

Then, for fun, I cropped out his arm and added a levels layer set to multiply. Then, using a layer mask technique, removed it from his face (hope that makes sense….).

To see more edits of this photo head on over to IHeartFaces!

My Garden Trophy

My garden has been an interesting one this year….. I have learned a lot and, esp considering my lack of weeding, attention, etc…. I think that we got a pretty good harvest. I learned that you can plant too many varieties of squash and end up with some cross pollination wonders….. At least that is what we are assuming happened!  I learned that too much nitrogen in the soil turns your tomato plants into wild, leggy creatures that tower above your head but bear little fruit, that I don’t like turnips nearly as well as I thought I did, that nasturtium flowers are hot and peppery, that home grown radishes can be hotter than any raw garlic you have eaten, that powdery mildew is BAD stuff, and just how much I DETEST slugs. I learned that weeds do VERY well here (as do slugs), that first year gardens have a LOT of weeds (and slugs), that if you want to make salsa you should NOT plant you tomatoes and cilantro at the same time, even if your tomatoes are starts and your cilantro comes in seed form. It has been a lot of fun sharing my garden with my folks….. They have been a lot of help and I am so thankful that they let me tear up part of their yard to convert into my garden! My folks are the best!!! (and no, I did not write that because you read my blog Mom, I just love you and Dad like crazy and am not afraid to post it! :o)  

Anyhow, Dad and I picked a couple of the large squash before the slugs got them and tonight I took pics of the kids with the largest so you could get an idea of just what beauty this baby is! :o)  The lighting was a bit too low so the pics aren’t the greatest but I had fun fixing them up so that hopefully you won’t be able to tell just how mediocre they were! :o)

J: 

B:  O.k. replaced the scary photo that I posted last night….. obviously it was late and I was tired. I can think of no other excuse for such a freaky pic…… This one, though it has it’s deficiencies, is much better!

 

I: Wish he were smiling but sometimes you just have to take what you can get!

Now isn’t that a beauty of a pumpkin? :o)

 

Hoping for a family play day tomorrow…… If we get to go play, there should be more fun, photo filled posts coming!  :o) 

More textures and randomness…..

  Tonight my hubby is out at a meeting and I am alone again…… I was going to watch a movie but a) I wanted to watch a Jane Austen  movie and I don’t have any and b) by the time the kids got settled in bed it was too late to start one. *Sigh*  The results of this lack of movie watching is that I am blogging, now, before you get too excited (haha), I have the beginnings of a cold and so my thinker is in a serious state of confusion…… I am not sure that you will be able to understand and/or follow any of it!

  O.k. I will get the randomness out of the way first and then for the fun, the pics!!!  I got to visit with SpecialEdsWife last night!!! It was so refreshing to just visit! I hadn’t realized just how much I was missing visiting with a friend. If you read this “E”, I would LOVE to visit again soon. It was so much fun!  :o)  Oh, and i haven’t REALLY forgotten about the link, just sort of um, didn’t think about it today…… I will send it soon, if I don’t um, not think about it again.   

 I am very frustrated with my disorganized self…… I have been reading (too many books simultaneously, actually) lately and came across this great quote which I was going to write a post around…… Can I find the book? No. I KNOW where I think I put it……. but it isn’t there. GRRR!!! I guess, as I don’t have a dog, I will have to blame it on the kids! :o)

Um, there was more but my brain is shutting down… :oP  So, on to the pics! :o) 

I have been playing with textures more in my spare moments…… haha, o.k., so instead of doing what I really should be doing but don’t want to be doing…. There, now you have the ugly truth. Anyway, I did this pic of my middle child….. Same texture as that of my eldest in the previous post but, because the background in the pic is different (dry grass as opposed to green grass) the look is very different:

and then, just for grins I did one of my niece  M:

and my niece S (aren’t they gorgeous little girls?)

and an old car…….

 

So, I REALLY need help with quotes and such to write on my little projects…. Anybody have any good sources of neat sayings?

Well, in the words of BugsBunny, (whom I haven’t seen in light years) “That’s all for now folks!”   :o)

As a DISCLAIMER: I did NOT write this under the influence of cold medicine, I promise. Late nights, colds, stress, and not enough chocolate just have this effect on me……. :oP

I assure you, I will try to always eat chocolate before posting from here on out……… :o)

When the cat’s away…….

 

  Tonight I am alone while my hubby is out late and the kids are sleeping…..Now, the wise thing to do would be go to bed early, but I couldn’t do the wise thing… Nope, not me! My excuse for my foolishness is that I can’t sleep when he is gone. Not sure that this excuse is going to cut it come tomorrow a.m. when my kids rise early and I don’t want to!  My foolishness has been productive (though not in the ways it probably should have been :o)  I spent my time trying some new photo editing ideas!  Through this site I found these free textures!  They are so much nicer than the stock ones that came with my editing software!!!  It took me so long to figure out the ins and outs of getting things just right that I only got one pic done but thought I would share it…..

Here is my first attempt at texture with one of my new textures:

 

I am pleased with it…… I would love feedback, what do you think?

If I am going to do much more of this I am going to have to find some inspiring quotes…. The ones rattling around my brain (which I am going to share soon) don’t really fit the pic.  Oh well, it is late and this was the best I could do! :o)

I have to admit a fascination with textures and fonts. 

I just LOVE fonts!!! :o)

Nathan~

      Today our Pastor preached a sermon that just seemed to speak to me. It was on 2 Samuel 7 where David wants to build a temple for God. David had a dream…. and an honorable one. I mean, what could be better that doing something so amazing, so lavish, so beautiful, so costly, for God?  But what did God say? He said ‘No, I have a better plan.’  From an earthly perspective it must have seemed crazy at the time….. But God asked David to give up his dream, to let go and let his dream die and to embrace God’s dream. I had never realized the full beauty of chapter 7 until the last 2 wks as Pastor has taken us through it.  As I was thinking over the sermon several things came to mind….

  Nathan had dreams, we all had dreams for Nathan, dreams that were good. Dreams of a long life as a mighty man of God, dreams of seeing all his potential fulfilled, beautiful, God honoring dreams, none of which could be fulfilled in 18 short years. All those dreams had to die when Nathan did, and God’s dream was realized for Nathan’s life. A dream of perfection, of un-distracted worship, of whole hearted devotion. Dreams too big, too amazing, too wonderful for me to comprehend, fuller than I can imagine……  Not that our dreams were bad, but God’s were better.

  David’s response to God was beautiful….. He was so humble, so awed at the awesomeness of God, at his goodness and mercy.  I think that each of us that loved Nathan were given a choice. We could rebel, try to stubbornly cling to our dreams, to be angry that God didn’t choose to use our good dreams, or we could let the dream die. We could could gracefully submit to His will, we could choose to believe that His dream was best, come in humility to the author of the dream. We had to choose to look for areas that God’s dream was playing out and God was faithful….. although we will not see the fullness of the dream until we too get to go home, He has shown us a small glimpse. We have seen lives touched that wouldn’t have been touched any other way, we see spiritual growth in our lives, we see mercy and grace.

It’s not easy but I pray that my response will always be as David’s  “Who am I?”

 

                      

  After Nathan died my Mom was given a little sign that said this (or fairly close to this):

___________________________

God answers prayers 3 ways:

1- Yes

2- Wait

3- I have a better plan

____________________________

I like this so much better than “no” because it isn’t just no, it is so much more……. I hope I always remember that His plan is the best, regardless of how painful it might be.

Nathan 07/07/1990 – 09/27/2008 

Photo Challenge ~ “Blue”

I wasn’t going to enter the challenge this week as I didn’t think I had any pics that fit. My next post was going to be pics and memories of Nathan but, at our family BBQ today (to remember Nathan on the 1 yr anniversary of his death), my Grandma wore blue. Now, I have to say that if my Grandma knew that all the pics I was taking were of her AND the kitten and not JUST the kitten she would probably scold me, if she knew I was posting them here she would REALLY scold me! :o)  She has always hated having her pics taken. My Grandma has been having a lot of health problems lately, so I want to be sure to get pics for my kids. One of the things that I have learned, and am working on, in the year since my brother’s death (at 18 in a car accident) is the importance of being bold with my camera and taking pics even if the subjects aren’t overly impressed (I come from a family of camera shy people).  I wish I had more of Nathan……. he wasn’t camera shy and LOVED all things photography related so I could have, I just didn’t think about it. Anyhow, all that to say, this is my sweet Grandma sneaking in time with a kitten. She LOVES cats but is allergic to them…….

 

A Year ~

  Well, I know I wasn’t going to post until next week, but that just shows how tired I was when  I wrote that!  This week/weekend is a time of remembering for us…… This week my amazing hubby and I celebrated our 9th anniversary!!! We have enjoyed reminiscing over the last nine years and the events leading up to our wedding and our wedding day. Sweet memories……….  But this weekend is also a time for remembering some hard things. You see, this weekend we look back at the start of what has been the hardest year of our lives thus far.  1 year ago Sunday, the 27th, my 18yo brother Nathan died in a car accident, in some ways our hard year started the day before….. the man that worked for my husband had been increasingly unhappy all week and finally showed some of it on Fri the 26th, slandering us inciting another that worked with us to be unpleasant. The other man apologized for his behavior and has been on good terms with us since….. “D” however had yet to show us the full ugliness of his anger…. Trying to forget the unpleasant scenes of Fri. we went to my in-laws on Saturday and it was just minutes after leaving their house that night that we were told of my brothers death. The days and weeks following his death are somewhat of a blur…… or maybe I just don’t like to relive them because of all of the emotions.  My husband was so amazing throughout the week, he stayed with me, held me, cried with me, and showed his love in every thing. He took the entire week off to help me and my family through this. He even went and took care of Nathan’s pick-up afterwards. I will just say, when some one dies of head injuries it is not clean, so his sacrifice in getting Nathan’s belongings out of that truck was HUGE! He watched the kids while I spent hours getting pics together, going through his cell for pics and info for the service, and texted with Nathan’s friends trying to offer comfort.  I can not begin to tell you what a treasure he was and is to me. I have no idea why God saw fit to bless me with such a man but I am so grateful that He did!  The week after Nathan’s death and service “D” went ballistic….. I can not begin to describe the ugliness of what he verbally and emotionally did to my husband, and it wasn’t just a one time thing. In the days, weeks, and months that followed we were forced to get police involvement because of threats to our family, nails in the driveway, etc….. and even when the worst was past he made sure that we knew he was our enemy. It was awful and, as a wife, I have to tell you that it was one of the most painful things I have ever witnessed to see part of my husband die…. His joy, his trusting nature, his desire to work, everything but his love and trust in God and his love and devotion to the kids and I. In the 4 months following Nathan’s death we also also saw 2 adopted Grandmas and 1 Great-Grandma go home to be with the Lord. For someone who had never really experienced death in her family, this was almost unbearable.  During the months that followed my health started to go down hill. It hasn’t been great for a long time but I reached a new low. During the early part of 09’ I got so tired/weak that there were many days I was unable to get out of bed except to do whatever was absolutely necessary. I tried to do more but would end up literally crawling and laying down frequently because I did not have the strength to stand. On days when I was out of bed I was too tired to even make it up the steps to our house without stopping 1 or 2 times to rest.  Talking with my new Dr and having him look at my blood-work, he is suspicious that I had mono on top of a LOT of other problems.  We could re-test to verify but can’t afford that at this time. I am making slow improvements, now even my worst days are not as bad before. I have a long way to go but look forward to continuing to improve. During all this our business was failing. In the current economy construction is not the best industry to be in. We have never had gobs of money but we faced a scarcity that we have never before known, and we still are. We have started to get work but it seems too little, too late…… There have been days that I was in despair because of this but at this moment I am looking forward to seeing what God does…… I also went through the loss of a friendship. I hope to write at a future date some of the many things that God has taught me through that, but not tonight. There were many other things that have happened, but these are the ones the biggest and the ones that I am at liberty to share. Bleak as everything was this past year, we have seen God work in ways that we would never have dreamed of….. He has allowed us to use the situation with “D” to witness to many in the community, He taught my husband many things and has made him less of a people pleaser and more willing to stand up, to not always be the one getting run over….. Interestingly enough, we have seen a couple different relationships fall apart when the other person lost control over us as God teaches us to allow Him only to be in control (this, of course, is what we have seen in hindsight). We have both learned to stand up more faithfully and openly for what we believe. We have learned more fully of forgiveness, the difficulty in forgiving the unrepentant, and the peace and freedom that comes from forgiveness. God has graciously taught us to trust Him, He has taught me that I have to choose daily to believe because He keeps His word. Faith does not have anything to do with emotions…..  I need to believe that He is there, not based on my feelings or emotions, not based on how things appear, but based on the fact that He promises in His Word never to leave me or forsake me. He has taught me to look at why I believe what I believe, to go to Him and His Word, to regard Him as the ultimate authority and not what any man might say that “God says….”, He has shown me His love and His mercy, and His abhorrence of sin and evil. He has shown me the sweetness of planting seeds of hope in Nathan’s friends, of letting go of those seeds and remembering who it is that harvests.  Much as I have not enjoyed the painfulness of these lessons, or the hardship of this year, much as, in my flesh I want an easier route, I am thankful for the growth. I hope to never forget the lessons learned.  I may post a picture/memories post in remembrance of  Nathan. I miss him so much but am so thankful that he is fighting no longer but is spending his time worshipping our Lord. How sweet to know that he is finally, truly happy!!!

  Now, if any of you are still with me after such a long post, I will wish you a goodnight! :o)

Fix-it Friday #30

 

It’s Friday!!! :o)  I found this pic a real challenge, but good for me to work on because I have many like it myself………. To be truthful, most of the FIF’s are a challenge because I am so new to photoshop. I sure enjoy it though!  :o)  I loved what this little boy’s mom had to say about this pic, esp this part

“Shooting in manual is not for those of us with 'Mommy Brain'! LOL".

My sentiments exactly!!!

Here is the original:

 

Here is my first fix: Not crazy about it but wasn’t sure what else I could do in my little old PSE 4.0 :o). I just couldn’t seem to get the color right…….

Here is my second fix: different crop, B&W

and here is my 3rd edit: a different crop yet, sepia, and texture (my only textures are the ones that came with my PSE 4 and I couldn’t get the layer mask to work, so his poor little face is textured :o(  Every time I did the layer mask it would erase the color but not the texture…. Maybe I should have tried the eraser with lowered opacity?

 

Head on over to IHeartFaces to see other great edits! :o) 

Randomness……

Inspired by my friend “E”, I am going to try again to be more organized. In looking at my current “schedule” (or lack there of) and how best to change, I realize that I need to be on the computer less (probably a no brainer but……..). It seems every time I have tried something of this sort my health probs flare up and I turn to the comp because it makes the time pass quicker. It’s a bad habit but I am hoping to change that.  I will still be posting “Fix-it Friday’s” and occasional photo challenges (because they are my de-stressors), but I will probably only do a “real” post once a week or so. We’ll see how long my resolve lasts! :oP  So, here are a few random tidbit’s that I will touch on now and hopefully go more in depth on in the coming weeks…..

  1- I have alluded to the fact, in a previous post, that I had a falling out with a friend. Since that time I have prayed much, sought wisdom from my Lord, and done a number of things to try and understand what took place.  Well, recently I was (providentially) loaned a book called ‘A Time of Departing’ by Ray Yungen. This book is one of the most fascinating books that I have ever read and I totally feel like it has been the missing puzzle piece in understanding……. I can not tell you how highly I recommend this book!!!  I hope to go more in depth on this book at a later time.

 2- I have had a dozen or so posts rolling round in my head that I am hoping to post regarding several books, and about reading in general. I have felt very convicted on certain things lately and, as I am able to articulate my thoughts, I hope to post about them.

 3- I still want to post little family tidbits because it helps me remember them.

   There was more but it is past my new bedtime (hmm….. not starting out so good!) and I am very tired. I have lofty goals and may, or may not, be able to accomplish them but I am going to try!  So, I will post my FIF tomorrow or Sat. and then will be back “for real” sometime next week.  :o)

One of the many reasons I love homeschooling…

 

  Last week our science reading was on seeds. We read many books about seeds, sprouted seeds, went outside and looked for seeds, etc….. One of our readings discussed the many ways that seeds are spread – wind, birds, bursting seed pods, etc…. Anyhow, we discussed them for a little while (all of my kids finding the bird discussion very funny because, at 2, 4, and 6, poop is funny.) The next day we were reviewing and when I asked if anyone remembered any of the ways that seeds are spread my 2yo piped up VERY enthusiastically with “POOP!!! Duck-duck (his name for all of the avian species) POOP!”   I had to laugh…. my 2 yo boy remembered from one day to the next our science lesson because it had to do with poop. Boys are soooooo funny!!!

Now, lunch and back to school since we got a late start today.  :o)   *

Testing. Testing. 1, 2, 3, Testing

 

So, here I am trying to upload bigger pics on my blog……….. These pics of the kids were taken Sunday evening. We were out having a picnic and the lighting was absolutely amazing!!!  I was very pleased with how these turned out, so thought I would share. :o)

Here is my eldest…….so grown up and pretty!  (I have one of her giggling too but she requested this one)

Here is my middle…… isn’t she a doll!

 

Here is my baby……. He is getting so big!

We had so much fun that night. We went on an “Expotition” in the words of the loveable Pooh or, in the words of my sweet kiddos, an “Inspiration”.  :o) I rather like the idea of going on an inspiration in God’s creation!

Another new look

Well, thanks to Cathy over at Created For Inspiration I have changed my blog. My hope is that it will be more of a photo type blog and I will be able to share bigger pics..... Not that I am only going to post pics, just that I LOVE bigger pics on blogs!  Anyhow, after editing the html (which, with her coaching, was not nearly as hard or scary as I had feared) I have a new look! I will miss the scrapbooky look of the others but it will be worth it for bigger pics.

  I just tried posting larger pics and it isn't working. :o(   I guess I'll have to see if she will coach me on that too *blush*

 Anyhow, I have some GREAT pics of the kids and can't wait to share them...... Hopefully soon :o)

Oh the things kids say!

Yesterday my sweet six y.o., while sitting on her Daddy's lap, looked up at him and said "Daddy, you have halitosis!"
  "What?!?!" he replied laughing "Do you even know what halitosis is?"
"Yes, I do." she grinned "it means BAD breath!"

LOL!  I thought it was hysterical and her poor Daddy didn't know what to think! :o) I guess coffee breath isn't for everyone...... hehe 

Fix-it Friday #29

  It's Friday!!!  Today has been rather crazy so I didn't keep track of how I got the results I got..... I just did a few things here and there as I could. It took me most of the day to get these accomplished. The little girl this week has the most gorgeous red hair! I always wished I had red hair growing up..... sometimes I still do! :o) 

 Here is the original: 

   First glance, I thought "easy!", I was wrong! There is a green line in her hair and on her forehead which I found distracting.



This is my color edit:

I lightened shadows, removed the green line, played with color, added a soft light layer, and ???


Here is my cropped version of the same edit: 

  My standard B&W: 

  
and Sepia: 

  
   And here I tried something completely new.... I did a texture and "photocorners":  

   I used a layermask technique, that I learned on a tutorial somewhere, and masked out her face (she is way too young for wrinkles! ;o) and lightened the texture around her face. I'm still not sure what I think of it but it was fun to try something new! :o)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Well, I got rather carried away with my edits this week... I was trying to get rid of the shaft of light but, though I used every trick up my sleeves, I wasn't able to. I had fun trying though!!! Now, I am off to  I ♥ Faces  to see the other edits! Have a great weekend!

Week 36

The challenge this week over at IHeartFaces is "Contemplative" and with a bonus category of pets. I had a hard time picking a picture......... I kept coming back to this one (after checking the rules and seeing that they had made an exception for the "before and after challenge" so I could post this pic again). I took this pic and it was really a throw away pic, until I did some editing. I just LOVE how it turned out!!! Every time I see it I just smile and wonder what big thoughts were going through her mind...... she is ALWAYS thinking about something big! ;o)

So here is my daughter looking contemplative :o)




and here is a friends cat:



For more great entries head on over to IHeartFaces!

Fix-it Friday!

Friday again! :o) I was able to get in a few minutes of editing time over our lunch/quiet time/nap break to do this week's FIF. This is an adorable pic to begin with.....

Here is the original:

I am trying to learn to use a lighter hand with my PSE so for my first edit I:
Lightened the shadows and played with the contrast
Adjusted the brightness and contrast
Dodged the catchlights
Sharpened the eyes and added a soft light layer to them
Adjusted Hud/Saturation to my liking
Added a soft light layer at 35%
Adjusted the shadows/highlights again
Reduced noise
Crop (Cropping is not my strong point but I wanted to crop to emphasize her beautiful eyes...... )
Warming filter 14%
Sharpened for the web

and here it is:


I then did a B&W using THIS method (only I put my gradient layer at 93% opacity to preserve a little of the color and because I liked how the eyes looked....):


And a sepia version using a the "recipe" in the above link for adding a chocolate tint but making the chocolate layer a saturation layer. The results were much different than anything I have done before with the added brown layer.......



Head on over to I ♥ Faces and see all of the other wonderful edits of this adorable picture! :o)

Week 35 Challenge

Back to school is the theme of this weeks photo challenge at IHeartFaces...... I am just sliiping in under the wire time wise, but accidentally deleted my first edits of a pic for this week. *Sigh* So, here is my entry. I had an awful time picking a picture but ended up with this one of my 4yo at the table doing her kindergarten. :o) I edited it to give it a vintage feel and even tried a texture for the first time ever!

Punchinello and the giants

(* Warning: This is one of those "unsafe" posts and is VERY long....... I actually wrote it over a week ago but my first draft was a bit too graphic. :oP I even had a photo-shopped pic of myself with my "tattoos". Total overkill but very therapeutic! *rolling eyes*)

Have you ever read the stories/watched the movies about the Wemmicks by Max Lucado? Wemmicks are little wooden people created by Eli, each one is unique and special. Now, as you can probably guess, these stories are allegories teaching little lessons to kids. Anyhow, in the first story, we find that the Wemmicks have a system to rate each other. Now if you are a "good" wemmick and the others like you they bestow on you golden star stickers, and if you are not as good you get black/grey dot stickers. We meet Punchinello who is a very nice little wemmick but he is rather clumsy. No matter how hard he tries to please the other wemmicks and earn a star something goes wrong and he ends up getting another dot. The poor guy is covered in dots and doesn't have even one star..........As you can imagine he is pretty disheartened when all his efforts gain him nothing, in fact sometimes people give him dots just because he is who he is and already has so many! One day he sees a beautiful wemmick walk by named Lucia and she has no stars or dots!!! Someone tries to give her a star because she is so lovely but it falls off........ Punchinello follows her to find out her secret and learns that her dots don't stick because she spends time with Eli. The more time she spends with Eli the less she cares about stars and dots (what all the other wemmicks are obsessed with) and the less they they stick. All she cares about is what Eli says and he adores her. It takes Punchinello some time but he eventually starts spending time with Eli and his dots start disappearing......(I am really shortening the story here but I am sure you can find a copy of the book or movie if you want to find out what you are missing! :o)

All this to say that lately I have felt like punchinello, only instead of plain dots mine are tattooed with names/labels.... I have always struggled with this. From the time I was little I seemed to hold tight to every negative thing that was ever said about me, they were like badges that I couldn't get rid of. It's not as if I wasn't ever given "stars", I actually received lots of compliments. It's just that they didn't stick........ I usually couldn't even remember them. Well, God has used my husband to help me slowly get over this tendency. It's not as if my dots fell off but more that they slowly faded. I quit seeing myself as defined by all these negative things and was slowly shifting my focus off of me and onto God. But now I feel like I fell asleep in a tattoo parlor and am now, once again covered in tattoos...... Those labels that had not quite faded are now as dark as ever and I have new ones...... In fact, I feel like my badges are the names of giants that surround me. Each giant has a name and, in case you happen to squeeze past the giant without noticing him, his name is tattooed on my dots. When the tattoos fade the giants shrink, sometimes disappearing altogether...... They inhibit me from developing friendships. They have a variety of names...... "Not good enough", "Bad Friend", "Harsh", "Judgmental", "Ruthless", "Self-absorbed", "Immature", "Ignorant", etc...... Some that were given by implication, some that were given outright, but the new ones were all given by someone I considered a close friend. I think that's why they are all so dark and ugly. I reached out, with love and the purest motives, to try and help a friend and received in return a formidable pack of giants and dark, ugly labels. When the new ones came they brought back some of my most recently departed giants and caused my shrinking ones to have growth spurts. I find myself withdrawing from everyone....... I mean seriously, who would want to be friends with someone who walks around with her credentials tattooed on her face and is surrounded by giants........ Um, yeah. No one.........

I will say that, though I am in the beginning stages, God is teaching me through this. He is teaching me to look past the giants and to keep my eyes on Him. He is re-establishing with me the importance of rejecting the current fads that focus on self-esteem, self-worth, and feelings and focus on Christ-esteem and Christ-worth. He is teaching me that, though my beliefs may not be what is popular and at times I feel very alone in them, I am not alone. I need to hold fast to the truth despite what is popular in this "enlightened" age. Growth is often painful and this time in my life is no exception but He will prevail.

He alone is good!