Let's Cook

Because my kids a screaming and I’ve had a long day with apparently no ending.

{I’ve chatted with the boy who is standing on principles. Now the girl she apologized and they both stomp off grumbling. Life is good. . . good. . . .good!}

Because of those things and thinking hard is out I want to toss out a fun challenge of sorts.

A cooking challenge.

If each of us can bring only five ingredients to a party what would you bring?

After we have them all we’ll see what we can create.

Thank you

Thank you for the prayers for my family. My uncle has a very aggressive cancer and is in meed of chemotherapy ASAP. He only broke some fingers and had a cut on his head. Thank God it wasn’t worse. My aunt has broken bones and still is confused and disorientated. Family members are driving down to help, they live out of state. We thank God they are still alive.

? I can't do it

As some of you may have noted I have yet to figure out this computer stuff.

I was able, after spending almost $70.00, to remove a bug my husband found in the word of surfing.

I see site meters and photos and cool linky things. I tried to put some of you on the side like the cool kids have. I can’t do it. I read the instructions It didn’t work.

I was happy to see that blogger seems to have fixed some of the problems I had.

I wanted to have thing up and running soon.

Alas I can’t do it.

Anti?

Are we so touchy about the war that it’s anti military to say you want them home?

How many people have you heard say "Yea! People get to go somewhere to be shot at!"
( Paint ball and laser tag excluded.)

Is it you’re anti military?

Am I anti war?

Not pro!

However, I know it’s a necessity. I just don’t like it.

Why?

People die, they get maimed, children are killed, damaged, left homeless, and starving.

So excuse me for not wanting it.

Pickled beets I grew up during the sixties those images are burned in my brain. I hate that war. There it is I hate war and I pray for peace.

Prayers please.

My aunt and uncle were in a car wreck. He has broken bones and was to start chemotherapy the nest day. My aunt has a head trauma and is suffering from memory loss. They aren’t sure if she will suffer long term brain damage.

I’m on Stress Street Today

I had a nice Sunday. . . .once my meeting was over. . . .classes at 6am, that’s a grand idea. *-* After the work meeting it was off to church, my son was leaving for camp. I had PBR tickets for the same day. Let’s see we need to be good parents, have the boy packed and fed, yet we have spent a lot of cash on tickets that I purchased for my husband’s birthday in February , who are we kidding it was for me. Happy birthday honey. :-} I did an early drop of money, meds, and info. I talked way too much about how it’s dangerous for him to be too far from his huffer because he doesn’t use it much and tends to. . ., wow she looks panicked, he doesn’t have them often and only one bad one because the other kid panicked, stay calm and calm him try caffeine. “Caffeine?” Yes, it helps. He’ll be fine. I should now shut up I thought. Did I? NO! His doctor didn’t want him to go on the mission trip because of his health, he was fine. Yikes, now I’ve done it she’s looking at me as if I had just floated around the room and yelled BOO. We can’t drop him off and he’s hitch hiking to camp. This left our son with his aunt, thank God for her. She fed him and made sure he was checked in, he rode down with a trusted friend.

We, as good parents do, had successful dumped our children on their aunt and went for steak. Did I feel guilty? Nope. We ate then went to watch the boys ride.

Monday someone went out of her way to anger me at work. Thank God for the customers who got that I was angry with her because it took time away from taking care of them. They were great and two men were a blast to hang out with while they waited for someone. When the card declines call your buddy and talk to the girl at the register.

Tuesday morning I was forced out of bed so that I could go out to eat with my husband and daughter. We then went to enroll her in the new school. The person handling our paperwork kept looking at me then saying stuff to a woman that knows me from the PTA. Was she talking about me? Did I do something to offend her? My husband was working on a bad mood and tried to suck me in. I leaned over to him and said “ Do you really want me to be angry? You set the pace.” Hmm he so didn’t. My sister took us to a few places then told me she had a friend who only sees his son a few days a week, the little boy loves Thomas. I’ve given all the Thomas stuff away but still had a Bear In The Big Blue House and a Barney tape. The last Barney tape left my house. It has been killing me. She’s growing up. She wasn’t a huge fan to begin with but still. She went from Barney to High School Musical.

Today things at work were fine until someone told me to do something implying that she had been told to tell me to do it. She hadn’t been told that and one of my bosses, the grumpy immature one, went off. I apologized several times, you know he was still huffing about. It was no big deal because the next person was on time and ready to go. I know now not to trust some of them. I had to pick up my pill for in the morning. One pill thirteen dollars. I still need to pack my daughter’s things my father is picking her up because he doesn’t want to come here early while I go in for my lovely two hour medical test. I so can’t wait. Let’s just say my husband read what they are going to do and looked at me in disbelief. Medical technology.

I know the stresses at work aren’t important and that Little’s growing up is good. I see how blessed I am that my family steps in and takes care of us when needed. I also know that the surgeon wants to know exactly how to proceed. So I will give it to God and He will calm me as always.

(I'm still planning on a good cry later)

R E S P E C T

Perhaps you’ll think me not strong in my beliefs when I say this: I think that God made room for other views. There I said it.

When the Baptist women came to my door and asked if I attend church I was very nice and told them I did and that I was Church of Christ. The next question was “Do you know Jesus?” I looked at these women who I thought seemed nice at first with disbelief in what they had just said to me. I would have never asked them that after telling me they are Baptist. I would have respected them much more then they respected me. I closed the door thinking I should have let my dog bark at them the whole time.

You know I try to be nice to all the folks who knock on my door and invite me to church. I’ve had lovely conversations with the Mormon young men who came to my home to tell me of their beliefs. Those boys returned a few days later with a video because I told them I was sorry that I couldn’t spend more time talking with them due to a death in the family. They promised to pray for us. My sister’s roommate became a Mormon, she was a sweet lady who died way too young she blessed her husband with children and her very loving ways.

My in-laws are Catholic and raised all seven of the children in the church. I hold a huge respect for them and the beliefs they hold fast to.

My cousin is Baptist. He has a great fellowship of friends. He and his wife have been through a lot where children are concerned. They are blessed to have two healthy boys here and two little ones in heaven. I’ve heard my cousin preach I was so proud of him. We were raised as brother and sister so his life is entwined in mine.

When do you stop saying things like those women said to me?

I meet brothers and sisters every day at work. I love hearing preach it sister. I love that one man now calls me sister. I love that the man wearing the collar who was having a bad day smiled when I told him God was telling him to slow down. I told a plumber that also as he began to panic when delayed only to have to come back fro the right part. See God sent you back in. He left smiling.

Why can’t we respect each other. I’m not saying jump on the other sides band wagon. I’m CoC, we don’t have a band.

RESPECT. Let’s give it.

Let’s stop trashing and pray for unity on a one- on-one basis.

See Ya Monday

Some days I don’t feel like thinking. Today is one of those days. I just finished day 10 and was offered O.T. I turned it down. Yesterday I failed to remember the simplest tasks. I was so exhausted. I know that some have long posts that deserve attention. It won’t come from me.

I ‘m looking forward to watching the boy’s ride this weekend. They are going to be down the street from me making personal appearances. I’m not sure I’ll make it, and I’m no longer a screaming girl waiting for David Gates. I never really was that girl.


Congratulations to my friend Danny Kaye, he earned it.

I hope Cowboy is having a nice vacation

I pray that Andriea’s princess recovers quickly, she has shopping to do.

Thank you Maeghan


Everyone have a great weekend!




Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
~ Proverbs 3:5-6

Next Question

Patchouli asks this.


If women can't baptize men, why can men baptize women?

I know what I believe (Galatians 3:28), but I do want to understand your perspectives.

This is me : -}

You Are Midnight

You are more than a little eccentric, and you're apt to keep very unusual habits. Whether you're a nightowl, living in a commune, or taking a vow of silence - you like to experiment with your lifestyle. Expressing your individuality is important to you, and you often lie awake in bed thinking about the world and your place in it. You enjoy staying home, but that doesn't mean you're a hermit. You also appreciate quality time with family and close friends.

What Time Of Day Are You?

What do ya'll speak?

Your Linguistic Profile:

50% General American English

20% Yankee

15% Dixie

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Looks as if that Yankee got to me.

I'm not sure I cotton to that.


My Yankee husband has more Dixie then I do. ;-}

Your Linguistic Profile:

50% General American English

20% Dixie

20% Yankee

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

My sister

Your Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English

30% Dixie

5% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

0% Yankee

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

When should the kids wade in?

Andreia asked us this on a comment.

Let’s talk about it.

What do we think of youngsters and baptism?

Andreia said:

I was baptized at 13. Of course, I was no where near mature enough to understand the gravity of my decision. In a lot of ways, I wish I was older. Of course being raised in the COC, my eternal soul depended upon this decision.

Now I have a son and I dont know how to feel about it. Sure, he could make that decision any day...but is it the right thing for a ten year old to do especially if there is that whole peer pressure thing going? Any ideas??




In a later comment Patchouli asks this.


I know that I am joining this great discussion late, but I do have a question: if women can't baptize men, why can men baptize women?

I know what I believe (Galatians 3:28), but I do want to understand your perspectives.

I want to discuss this, let’s start with children then work our way up.

The count down to the PBR has started

May they all ride well and make it home safely.

www.pbrnow.com

Vision of PBRO

“Opening their eyes, and turning them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among those who are sanctified.”
Acts 26:18

My Neighbor

I read a post on being a good neighbor and my thoughts instantly went to Carolyn. She was the snoopy one of our neighborhood. She knew the comings and goings of everyone from the time she came home from work to the time she went to work.

I loved her. She would call if she thought something was wrong, she insisted on having our phone number, just incase. If I had an extra car in the drive she was concerned. I know that she sounds intrusive, she wasn’t. She was a nice lady.

Carolyn went in for a routine mammogram they found cancer. She had the treatments as ordered then moved on with living.

One evening a power line fell next to our house while the firefighters yelled at on lookers to stay away. Dah, we all thought, except for the idiots walking up to the thing. Incase you don’t know it has enough power to turn the sand in the soil into glass. It would have killed someone had they walked up to it. As we enjoyed the view of the nice firefighters Carolyn and I talked about her back troubles.

I should tell you that she had two grown kids and an ex-husband. Her son moved in with her after his wife left him for someone else.

When she told me about her back I was concerned, apparently more than the doctor she was seeing, he gave her meds for pain and sent her on her way. I told her she should have a second opinion. It wasn’t until she went back for a cancer check that she told the oncologist about her back pain. I hate being right sometimes.

When her mail box fell over my husband replaced it. Her son moved out because he couldn’t handle watching her struggle to walk. My daughter and I tried to visit from time to time. When she could no longer walk past the front door my son and I brought her mail to her.

Carolyn asked so little of us. I wish that I would have done more. She called me on a bad day and asked me to take her shopping I hated turning her down. I called and offered later in the week. She assured me that someone had stocked her up. I did pick things up for her when she asked. I should have been the one asking her what I could do.

When she called that night I had just put the kids down and my husband was about to go to bed. I told him good night and not to wait up for me. All she said that she needed was a bit of ice. I brought ice, dumped her ice bucket out so that it could refill with good ice and helped her settle in to bed. She talked of her grandchildren and how important it was that she see the pictures of them together. Her daughter had made it difficult to get the photograph taken, one excuse after another to not show up. She was worried that she looked so yellow in the picture and asked them to fix it. She wanted her grandchildren to remember her as she was before the cancer.

I listened to her talk for a while. I asked her to let me take her to the hospital because of the color of her skin. She refused, so we talked. I hated leaving her that night, she insisted. Her nurse would be by the next morning.

The next afternoon I walked my son home as we did every day we took her mail to her door rang the bell, picked up trash from the yard and went home to talk about his day.

Later that day I noticed the mail wasn’t retrieved. I spoke to a neighbor then knocked on her door no answer, I went to her back yard she wasn’t in her bed. I began calling hospitals and found her. I sat with her mother and sister listening to then tell me about how much they love her. Her sister said that she was holding on for some reason. I smiled, the photograph I told them. They agreed. She died before it was delivered but I believe that she saw it.

I couldn’t understand how her daughter could laugh in my face as I tried not to cry when I delivered her mail. Her son-in-law telling me how she was difficult to be around.

My son cried when I told him that she had died. He said “Mom I never got the chance to really know her, I never got a picture of her”

One more What If

What if our youth minister was a woman?

Would you allow your baptized son to go to classes taught by her?

Concluding What If?

All silliness to the side some cool stuff comes from this.

To hear that some churches allow women to baptize other women is heart warming to me.

We weld our Bibles around like a weapon against those who don’t agree with us when actually we are making strikes against God. I don’t pull scripture out a lot because I hate, yes hate, how some seem to toss it about as if they hold authority and judgement over us. God provides a way, He uses men and women when and where they are needed. He has shown in His book wonderful examples of who we are to be and not to be.

A Neighborhood church?

I think it could be great. I also think it could go wrong. Danny thought I was upset at something he had done and was upset at me for what I had said. We resolved it. :-} It can happen quickly and humans tend to suck others in. I could have gone to Andreia, she might have gone to Larry, Danny seeing Codepoke was back might have gone to him and now the whole thing is a mess.

I realize I’m coming from a place where for way too long people have been slamming on my church and those in it. They are trying to take the church down that’s hard to take and down right exhausting.

I also will say that it would be nice to have people who you love and know living around you. I moved from a neighborhood where they did, to one where I know very few and we aren’t close. The one family that we were closer to moved out of state.

In the other neighborhood we borrowed from each other we helped each other and our kids went to school together from the time they were in kindergarten. One, as we spoke on the phone, said she need to do dishes and was out of soap a few moments later she was in my driveway picking up a baggy of soap. I do miss the ability to call and ask for help. I know get out and meet the neighbors. That’s what my friend told me. I’ve told myself that too. I’m not very good at that, I may be out going at work and in other forums not in this one. Someone might tell me to stop over thinking it and just do it ;-}

I do put a lot of stock in the way that God leads us and where he puts us. If women are to lead then He will give us leadership. I don’t want to lead in the church. I like where I am that’s where He has called me to be. He will put you where you need to be man or woman.

Let’s play on.

Now that we have our Church Of The What If?

We’ve established that being ICOC and COC based we have rules.

Men will lead. Women will do the rest.

We have Larry, he came home from defending our nation because he developed flat feet.

Danny now in a wheel chair. He’ll recover, don’t worry. A bit of PT and he’ll be on his feet in no time.

And grandpa. He’s 86 and his hands shake a bit.

Codepoke is also home and adds an interesting view to the mix. He doesn’t have a COC background.

These men take turns speaking and it’s interesting. We love having different styles and perspectives.

Do you think that the women are happy to give it back to the men?

Is it a relief to not have to lead?

Are we glad because it’s nice having them home and we need to continue to focus on those who’s men are still away, and those who’s husbands aren’t coming home?

Where is our place in this church?



(Watch And We were Soldiers you will see how amazing men and women can be)

What If. . .

I like to think what if a bit so here’s a what if story.

We, fellow bloggers, move into a small community and start a church. The men serve communion and the women teach Bible class to the children taking turns so that no one is burnt out. We’ve set a curriculum that all agree on. The men take turns preaching, and this gives us a different prospective every week. We all get along very well and yes there are loud discussions from time to time but we all love each other, when the men get a bit angry, as we sometimes do they take a walk to cool off.

Lawns are green and neat and cookouts plentiful. It’s a great life. We aren’t intrusive in each others lives so much that you feel like hiding.

On Wednesday nights we meet and have Bible studies and fellowship time with a dinner as a family together. On Sundays we all gather at a small meeting place that we built in the neighborhood.

Life is good.

Until . . .

The men are called up for duty, you’re young and you must defend our Nation.

Now what is to become of our church?

Our fellowship?

Who will decide what songs are to be sung?

Who will preach?

Should we, as women now go to a new church?

Are we now the heads of our households?

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

It really doesn’t bother me to have men in those rolls in the church. I guess the questions are:

What are our rolls in the church as women?

Do we want to see it change?

Is God leading us towards changes?

As our world changes are we as women satisfied with the current rolls?

Are you as men happy with the rolls women have?

Would you like to see changes?

Is it Biblical for these changes to happen?

What does God say?

My husband and I were having a silly conversation in the hardware store the other day.

When God sneezes does He say?

“Bless me”


What does He say when He is surprised?

“Oh my me”

Does He sing song of worship to Himself? Do you think He gets them stuck in His head the way that we do?

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leafs a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.


Robert Frost

All for one

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)