Camp trip canceled

Recent church camp experience was so inspiring i’m doing it again!

This time with me kids.

And a dog.

And this time i may even get on the water 🙂 Hope to see a gator too, Yay

Believe it or not, when gently petting a sleeping hamster, one is greeted with a dance less like the “Hamster Dance”

and more like the “Enraged Bull Dance”

Ok. So the other three US Presidents got the esteemed Nobel Peace Prize for actually DOING something and Mr Obama gets one because people feel GOOD about him?

Wow.

I’m amused watching the angry man behind him in traffic.

Might even let a few more people cut in front of him just to watch the reaction behind.

—

07 October 2009 at 07:50
[commenter] Texting and driving! Tsk Tsk Tsk. Worse than drinking and driving.

07 October 2009 at 07:51
[me] O wait, oops is that an irish coffee i see in my hand?

07 October 2009 at 07:53
[commenter] Ha ha ha! Sounds like a driver I want to go drinking with tonight!

07 October 2009 at 07:59
[me] But not driving… No really i’m a safe driver. O hold on, speed racers’ hot in front of me. Weee now i get to wave to him every time this slow slow traffic stops us. 🙂

07 October 2009 at 08:11
[me] Ah so sad, i lost my driving buddy. He got tired me seeing my happy smiley face and switched lanes. He’s now about three quarter miles in my rear view mirror. 🙁

07 October 2009 at 08:13 · Like
[commenter] Ornery as ever, eh?

07 October 2009 at 08:16
[me] Jr Yah it’s a tough job but SOMEONE has to be a cheeky monkey. O and i made it to parking spot safely 🙂

07 October 2009 at 08:33
[commenter] Well that is a good thing! I was worried the guy behind you was going to shoot you 🙁

07 October 2009 at 08:39
[me] Hee you don’t get to be my age AND as irritating at the same time without learning to duck

07 October 2009 at 09:46
[commenter] S’pose you are right…LOL

07 October 2009 at 16:42
[commenter] It’s so bad that I like this, but we’ve all been the angry one and we’ve all been the one laughing at him, so I guess it’s okay to laugh now… 🙂

Dear Mom and Dad, camp is fun. My roommates are cool.

They promised not to put bugs in my ears when i sleep like they did to Freddy last year.

Whoops got to go, a bear made its way into the cabin and is eating all of our lunches.

XOXOXO John

Wow what a blessing 🙂 left to visit a church, got stuck in horrific traffic – but somehow i’m in the church pew 10 mins before service starts!

And got ‘front row parking’ on top of that.

And it’s communion sunday as well. A good morning.

Ok, if you REALLY want to mess with someone’s head, respond with, “Don’t tell me what to do” when they say, “Have a nice weekend”.

It’s really funny if you walk that scenario through your imagination…

It is indeed a happy day

when  the shock of a lost tooth

is replaced

with the joy of the loss of the toothache.

New pup in the family… name’s “Cash”, as in “The Man in Black”.

How’s life with a new pup? It’s ruff.

Couldn’t resist 🙂

Preparation is 90% of the work.

The other 30% is spent justifying why one missed the deadline

Heard the best quote of the day so far this week:

“I don’t think I understand what you are saying but I think I can prove you are wrong…”

It’s been said “It’s the little things that count.”

True that.

Big things count too, but it’s hard to notice the little things without practice.

Recently our family’s gone through an extremely trying life-changing event. Well, it was the pinnacle of a series of unfortunate events but nonetheless a line was drawn in the sand and we had to cross it. Haven’t quite yet finished crossing that line but we’re moving along.

As a result I’m now rebuilding a lost life, using what tools I have left at my disposal.

So, the big things that God provides during this time are quite easily noticed, and sometimes even by others outside of my bubble. We celebrate the milestones and pray during the big challenges put before me and my children.

As it is with our “daily bread” God provides, we don’t survive off the feasts, but we survive and prosper when we are given a daily dose of nourishment.

It truly is the little things that count. If we are aware of them, they provide hope and encouragement, which is the best thing the Holy Spirit can bring to each of us.

Here’s an example.

I’m an avid book reader. Love fantasy, sci-fi and science material.

I spent about 16 years building a collection of books – and sadly, in about the same number of years after that, the collection has been decimated, and eventually all have been lost. We won’t go into details here…

Part of my life-rebuilding dream is to get some of these books back. Starting with one of my favs, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld stories.

So I put on my Facebook profile a list of these books I would like to see. Just as a reminder to myself really, nothing more. I figured I’d get these over time, and read them slowly, kind of like my version of “comfort food” to help me through tough times.

As you have probably already guessed by now, the good Lord has provided. And as His wont, He’s provided in abundance for this little thing.

I was hoping to find a couple of these at a time from a local used bookstore I discovered when looking for my daughter’s reading assignment.

I went into the store yesterday. I didn’t find one of these books, or two, or even three.

Someone had sold his entire collection of Discworld books to the store, including the first three in the series. I haven’t yet gone through to see which ones are included but I did spot these.

Sold to the store the day right before I got there.

Nineteen books in total.

And because they were used, the price was half-off the normal price.

Quality? Pristine. O what a find.

But there’s more.

These aren’t just any printing – they are the versions printed in the UK – meaning the title of one, for instance, reads “The Colour of Magic” instead of the American version (without the ‘U’). Also meaning that the cover art on the books is special and meaningful to those in the fantasy and sci-fi world.

Therefore these are special by any means, and not just to me.

Lucky?

Not me. Thankfully I’m in God’s heart and as such don’t need luck in my life.

This isn’t a braggart’s boast here – bad things happen to those who accept God’s love, but even better things happen to them as well. Such is the reason for not needing to rely on luck, which is, by definition, unreliable 🙂

What I have is a God who provides the little things as well as the big things. With this little gift He’s brought to me much-needed nourishment.

It’s not the stories themselves or the special printing or the cleanliness of the books that is nourishing to my soul.

What’s nourishing to my soul is the fact that He’s caring enough to hear my little prayer and to provide in this way.

I’m thankful for the giver, not the gift. I’m thankful He’s teaching me to listen and observe and see this little thing for what it is.

I encourage you reading this to look for the little things He provides. They are there. We just need to have eyes and ears open to see and hear them.

And if you have family, open arms to hug them.

“One has not mastered the art of forgetting,” he mused, “until one has forgotten the reason why they needed to forget something in the first place.”

Having wrapped his head around this idea, he felt like he had accomplished something at last. But he wasn’t sure that it was.

Mission next-to-impossible:

Finding my maroon Ford F-150 in a Southeastern Texas Wal-Mart parking lot in the evening when the other 150,000 commuters in the area have also gone shopping for the day…

if you haven’t been to Texas then here’s an idea of what it looks like:

Best weekend I’ve had in years, literally… all five of my kids (and I Love My Kids(tm)) were in over this weekend.

So happy they were able to make it.

Yay my surviving items that went to England and back are safe in my house.

Now for some serious defragging 🙂