Thursday, August 30, 2007

Hat tips...

So, I was perusing some blogs that I often visit this morning when I came across a video posted by a friend that I had actually sent that very video to. But in her explanation before the video starts she says... "I ran across this video on YouTube..." It is funny because, I am glad she liked the video enough to use it...I am glad she posted the video...I am wondering why she skipped mentioning me.
Isn't that interesting! All my life I have groaned and avoid at any costs chapel services that are labled, "Awards Chapel" or any event concerning grown professionals dressing up like clowns and marching through the isles of the sancuary with the organ blairing some prestigious song for all to hear. I never have cared that some people enjoy staying at the same job they don't enjoy for 10, 15 or 25 years. I never wished I was the one standing on the stage recieving the piece of paper that says something I already know. I always wondered what in the world do those people do with those papers? Do they really save them? Because I just think that is dumb. Ok so before I digress any farther...my point.
I never thought recognition was all that important. I don't expect to be recognized for the things I do. That isn't why I do them. But maybe deep down I do...hmmm

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

More on Anna...

Anna's Dad updated this afternoon...


Tuesday, August 28, 2007 1:58 PM CDT

Friends and Family,We finished the scope this morning and are awaiting the results of the tests they will run on the specimens. We will begin to get a better picture of what is going on over the next 24-72 hours. Anna isn't in any pain right now but breathing is very difficult. They are starting some medications this afternoon. We hope and pray that these medications will have their intended effect.
Ps. 41 says that: "The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed and restore him from his bed of illness." That's our prayer for Anna today - that the Lord would sustain her and restore her, yet again, from this bed of illness.
Thanks for praying.

Waiting for that miracle,
Richard

Friday, August 24, 2007


I haven't posted an update on Anna in a while. Keep praying.
Here is her mom's latest post (as of 08/24/07):
Yesterday was hard and scary. But God was faithful and sent people to be with me off and on throughout the day so I wouldn't feel alone. Anna's temp got up to 103, but this morning she feels cool. (She's still asleep.) I had my bag packed for the hospital last night, but her counts came back above 500 and the doctor told us that we were doing all we could for her at home--so we stayed. Thank you for praying for us. Thank you for Shelley, Kay, Arlene, and Jennifer who came to visit. Thank you for Big Sky bread which is all Anna has eaten in 24 hours (including a piece at 3am). Thank you for my wonderful husband who holds me together when I am falling apart. Thank you for the doctor who didn't make us go to the hospital. Thank you for the home health nurse who came to draw the labs. Thank you for the chance to walk by the lake this morning. Thank you that my kids love school. Thank you for Sittie and Pop babysitting tonight. Wow! Once I get started being thankful it's hard to stop! Lord, give me a grateful heart today and cast out this spirit of fear that does NOT come from you. Amen,Marlo

My life is lacking tragedy...I hope I can be as thankful as this mom who has a dying child.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

I affect people...

Lately I have been having to make some really hard decisions. Thinking about a possible move, that means a new living situation, a new job...new everything. This is something that I have always kind of enjoyed. Moving is fun for me. All the 'newness' of it. But at this point in my life, moving is not only a huge hassle-it is affecting a whole lot of people. I have found it particularly unsettling this time around maybe because I actually care but also I think that it just is affecting more people then any of my various moves have before. I am starting to ramble so I will get to my point.
The things I do affect people. The things you do affect people...probably more than we realize. It has become more and more apparent to me how actions I take and words that I say become important moments in other peoples' lives. In fear of boasting, I will leave out the amazing life altering words I have spoken to the multitudes but I will share this. I have made it a habit of having my devotional time at a coffee shop here in town. It is just noisy enough but not too loud, so it is just right for thinking. And the occasional person saying random things when they come in is fun too...and sometimes thought provoking....woh rambling again. Anyhow, the other day I was asking Nikki if she had been spending any time reading the Bible. She looked at me funny, shrugged and walked into the other room. I thought about letting it go but then decided to pursue. I followed her and asked her what the shrug meant (although I was a teen just recently I have already forgotten the language). She said, 'why are you always asking me if I have been reading my Bible? You never read it." OUCH! I realized that I haven't been setting a good example and that, although my time 'alone' in the word is good and I am not giving that up...I need to be reading the Bible with an audience too.

I am just sharing to make my point... what we do, or I guess in this case, sometimes what we don't do, effects people.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Kids are funny...

Being around kids makes me laugh sometimes, so I try to stick around them as much as possible. Here are a couple of new kid quotes that made me laugh:

The other day I was sitting with my niece Sahara, she asked me, "How come we can feel the wind but can't see it?" That was a fun conversation.

Today Jack had been jumping off the chair and landed wrong on his foot...and it hurt really bad. It was all he could think about for a time. A little while later we all got in the car to go out and he was still looking miserable. We started out of the driveway and he said in the saddest voice ever, "I just don't know what I will do without my foot!"

This afternoon I had Taylor clean up his room so I could vacuum. After I was done in his room and was headed for the hall he stopped me. I turned off the vacuum so I could hear him and he asked me, "Why do you always want us to clean up? Is it because you are afraid you will stub your toe on my toys?" (This has happened before)

One of my other nieces, Bria said this out of nowhere while we were reading books the other day, "If you are bad, God knows it and if you stay bad, you go to hell. You have to have a new heart to go to Heaven." ...Maybe she doesn't know that I am saved????

Hope you enjoyed these as much as I did! Hopefully, more to come!!!

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Lucy...

I have a bird. A beautiful blue parakeet named Lucy. I have had her for about a month now and she hates me. I have done everything right. I went to all the Internet sites I could find about how to hand train a young parakeet. I have followed all the rules to gain her trust...yet when I hold my finger out for her to stand on, she tips her body back and glares at me. When I leave the room or sit where she cannot see me (especially REALLY early in the morning) she will sing and sing. If she can see me, she is silent. The bird refuses to be my friend.
This is another unfortunate thing. She lives on my desk, a place I thought would be perfect because not only does she have access to the window, she is also right next to me anytime I am at my desk. (an important thing for a parakeet, the experts say, is to have contact with their owner as much as possible) Well, the problem is that when I sit at my desk I often am reading or writing or doing something that requires paper. This all would be fine but Lucy for some reason has an aversion to paper. It is fine if it is just sitting there on the desk but on occasion I like to turn a page...and she flips out. I mean completely looses control. She flies around her cage like a maniac, splashing her water, spilling her seeds...she gets all out of breath. It is ridiculous.
The thing that is fun about her is that in the mornings she won't let me sleep past sunrise...not sure if 'fun' is the right word here but it is nice to have a friendly sound waking me up instead of my alarm clock. Also, she has made friends with the birds that are free to fly about her window. They will call back and forth to each other...it is really sweet. Well, I guess it is sweet I don't actually know what they are saying.
Well, this is the end of another almost entirely pointless post. This is about as exciting as my life gets!

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

A prayer...

Sometimes at the end of the day I am not sure what to pray. When no words come I often just sit quietly and then read scripture but other times I use the scripture to form my prayers. Here is a prayer I turn to often when I feel at a loss of how to pray for the kids:

(Taken from Proverbs 4: 20-27)

I pray that Nikki and Taylor will listen closely to the words of our God. That they will treasure His word in such a way that they will not let it out of their sight and will keep His words in their hearts for they (His words) are life to those who find them and health to a man's whole body. I pray that above all else, they will guard their hearts- the wellspring of life. I pray that perversity and corrupt talk will be far from their lips. That their eyes will look straight ahead with their gazes fixed directly before them. I pray that God will make level paths for their feet and that He will grant them wisdom to take only ways that are firm. And I pray that both of them will walk in steady faith; not swerving to the right or the left; that God will graciously keep their feet from evil.