A Public Thanksgiving Acknowledgement

Today I would like to give public praise, thanksgiving, and acknowledge God for the safety of my sweet 2 1/2 year old girl! Thank You God with all that I am!

It was our first time to visit the Breakfast Food play area at the Cherry Creek Mall. After going the wrong direction at first, we finally passed Santa and the Narnia Snow Globes and found the Stapleton Kid's Kourt. What fun! Huge bacon slices and sausages, a banana, waffles, and a bowl of Shredded Wheat biscuits all for kids to play on. It was already crowded despite the fact that the mall had only opened 5 minutes earlier. I found my mentor mom, Gwen, and after chatting for a few minutes, Michelle and her girls, Noelle and her mom and boys arrived together.

I had been nervous to park my stroller at the entrance of the play area. The seats near it were all full, so I picked an open spot where I could see the entrance and my stroller across the staircase and there would be room for all of us. After everyone arrived, I decided I'd better move my stroller close to us, so I wouldn't have to watch two things at once. Katrina played well, staying near me at first, but then getting more adventurous.

Michelle and I were chatting. She had her eyes on 3 kids today, so she and I would stand up or move a little to see our kids. Moms are used to the strange conversations that come in bits and pieces when they are busy watching kiddos. I saw Katrina head out of my sight...and I waited a minute. But then I got up and headed to where I could see her...but where was she?

As Katrina got dressed this morning, I took notice of what she was wearing. It's psycho the way I sometimes think--I want to put her in something I can find her in. I looked at the purple/pinkish sweatshirt she had chosen. Her blond curls would stand out against that. If anything happened to her, what color would I say that shirt was. Yes, psycho...I'm not planning for anything to happen, but in our world today, you have to know what your kid looks like and is wearing.

Well, now my parental nightmare seemed to be a reality and the panic crept in like an Orc. Where is she? "Jesus Please!" That was my prayer...just two words. My eyes darted back and forth! I stumbled to the entrance and asked a lady near there if she'd seen a little girl in a purple sweatshirt. Then back again, I called to my friends. "Katrina is missing, can you help me look for her?"

They were all up in an instant scanning the groups of kids. I had only taken my eyes off her for a minute...how did she get out without me seeing? Had someone taken her? I walked back to the seat and looked up to see her at the top of the marble staircase in her socks. I vaulted over the planter and up the stairs. A lady stayed next to her until I got there. With my arms around her and my voice in a tone she'd never heard before and neither had I, I held her close and told her how worried I had been. "Will you forgi'e me?" she asked innocently "Oh yes, sweetheart, I forgive you!"

It was a long 5 minutes. I'm so thankful for my friends who held my baby and helped me look. It seems that the greater danger for her was slipping down those marble stairs than my panic that she had been taken, but God protected her from both. I can't explain the shock, panic, and then amazing relief that took place, but He knows, and I thank Him!

Joy to...you

Joy to...you
The Lord is come
Please receive your King
Let your heart prepare Him room
And heaven and nature will sing.

Joy to you!
Jesus,
The Savior, reigns
Let you, your songs employ
While fields and floods
Rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat your song of joy

Don't let your sin and sorrows grow
as thorns infest the ground
He comes to make
His blessings flow
Wherever these are found

He rules over you with both truth and grace
And gives you the ability to prove
The glories of His righteousness
and wonders of His love

Inspired by the beloved carol by Isaac Watts and my Dove Dark Chocolate wrappers.

It's rough being a teenager

Just take a look at this and this! Please be careful out there!

Disney parents

So, we watched Finding Nemo on Thursday night, and it came back to me that in most Disney movies(animated), one or both parents are dead or missing...what's up with that?

Finding Nemo--Mom's been eaten
Cinderella--Mom's dead and Dad is either missing or dead--Stepmother is wicked
Little Mermaid--Mom unmentioned
Beauty and the Beast--Belle's mom is unmentioned
--The Prince/Beast's parents are unmentioned
Snow White--Mom's dead--stepmother wicked again
Sleeping Beauty--both parents alive, but raised by fairies
Monsters Inc--Boo's parents not mentioned
Toy Story and Toy Story 2--Dad unmentioned
Lion King--Dad murdered
Bambi--both parents die
Dumbo--Dad unmentioned
Aladdin--Jasmine's mom dead Aladdin--parents unmentioned (presumed dead)
The Incredibles--WOW! Really? Both parents alive and mentioned!
Atlantis--I can't recall--irrelevant perhaps
The Jungle Book--Mowgli's parents missing/dead
101 Dalmatians--All the other puppies had parents at one point...but Pongo and Pretty are ok.
Lady and the Tramp--Irrelevant?
The Jungle Book--Mowgli's parents missing/dead
Tarzan--Both parents killed
Pocahontas--unclear and irrelevant?
Fantasia--how old is the wizard's apprentice? hmmmm

OK, so I like Disney movies, but I wonder...what does this tell kids?

Also--I realize there are movies that I haven't mentioned...mainly because I don't recall or haven't seen them.

People Suck!

I hate sin! I hate the materialism that drives so much sin! I have a hard time understanding the selfishness of people.

My mom and stepdad spent the morning shopping for the good deals and trying to make their money stretch to give to the total 6 kids, 6 spouses, and 12 grandkids a nice Christmas. They had their mornings purchases stolen from their car at Westminster Mall.

I've had my car broken into before and it's such a helpless feeling--such a violation. I have a hard time understanding how God can love people when basically we all just suck!

Random thoughts

My feet are cold. If I put socks on, it may just keep the cold in and not really warm my toes. I've had that happen before. So, should I put on socks? It would require getting up, and if I get up I need to move my baby from the couch or he might fall off. And if I move him, he might wake up, which would be BAD, but if I got up, I might actually get something done around my house today. Afte 2 1/2 years of being a stay at home mom, I have to say that I rarely stay at home, but being mom definitely trumps all this lousy housework. I may have to accept that I'm not a "self-starter" and that is the reason my home looks like a sty. I'm a clutterbug. Having a small townhouse and lots of stuff doesn't make it easier. Even if (when--please Lord when) we get a bigger place, I think I might be suprised that it's still cluttered.

Uh oh, now Roger's home and I'm going to get caught blogging instead of being at all productive. And yet, blogging is productive, right? I'm thinking! Using my head...

OK...I'm going to get up now...

How we pray

Listening to my 2 1/2 year old daughter pray is interesting. When she prays for her lunch, she thanks God for her mac & cheese, raisins, milk...because that is what is right in front of her. (We haven't gotten the closing your eyes part down yet). It's specific, which is great. It's heartfelt, which I love. It's also a lot like how most people pray...for just what we see. We miss looking beyond ourselves and thanking God for things that aren't right in front of us. When was the last time you thanked God for your friend's job or your parent's health or your future. I guess I find that I ask for a lot of things...sometimes it's for my friend's job to get better or for my parent to get well, but I rarely thank God for those things that the people around me do have.

What's the big deal about Harry Potter?

I just don't get what the big deal is? There's controversy in Christian circles. There's controversy in educational circles. I have purposefully not read any Harry Potter books because I just haven't been able to wade through all the hype. Are the books that good? How are they different from other fantasy lit? I don't buy the..."it gets kids reading" argument, cause if that was the great thing about them, then why put out the movies?

I'm not planning to see the movies until I read the books....because it is really true that the book is better than the movie (except in the case of Forrest Gump. I couldn't stomach even a chapter of that horrid book. Whoever adapted it for a movie sure did a positive number on that one....but I digress), but I just don't know if I'll ever bother with the books.

I'm thankful for.....me

It was craft time at Grandma Deanie's house, and my 2 1/2 year old daughter had to come up with 5 things she is thankful for to put on the 5 feathers in the turkey's tail. She started out....Mommy :)....Daddy.... Katrina(that's her)....Baby Alex....Grandma....

When was the last time you were thankful for yourself...thankful that God made YOU? It seemed so odd to me that she would name herself, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt that I'm the one that was missing something important...not her.

I wonder if this is how God feels...

when we do our best to praise him and we fall so very, very short. We just kind of vomit up something we think is great, and we smile, and He accepts it because of the smile on our face after we hurled it in his direction.

Yes, I was holding my sweet 4month old son up in the air and smiling and playing with him. All of a sudden SPLAT! and my shirt has a curdly, white, smelly puddle on it. And he has the biggest smile on his face like he gave me this great gift. And he did, but what the great gift was was the SMILE.

A Favorite Poem

Pied Beauty
Gerard Manley Hopkins

Glory be to God for dappled things--
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced--fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.

Notes

ICYC

Curt

Curt Cloninger

Theatre With A Lasting Impression

In honor of the Christmas season having started already (ACK!) I give you a line from Witnesses.

"If I woulda known he was gonna be the Messiah--I would have given him a room. I coulda advertised. 'The Messiah slept here'" The Innkeeper

We have both his Witnesses and God Views videos. Very Cool! http://www.curtcloninger.com/

Why, why, why?

Wednesday around noon I was driving on University, and at the Dry Creek intersection they were putting up a

Christmas Tree Lot!

Now I love Christmas. It's so amazing to think of the God of the universe coming down to earth as a baby...so helpless...so utterly dependent. But WHY on this beautiful planet He created, would we need to buy a Christmas tree on the 2nd of November? I mean, the Christmas season is special--with the Christian significance and the secular trappings--but how special can it be when it's almost a fourth of the year?

I may never have Double Bubble again

Tyler--with 12 pieces of Double Bubble in his mouth--

"I need a spit cloth"

and later, after having dropped it on the floor and then popping it in his mouth

"I think I found a dog hair"

Jesus heals the paralytic...chord

It is official! My formerly paralyzed vocal chord is moving. I could tell a few weeks ago...and if you've talked to me, you might have actually HEARD me when I talked. Thanks to Dr. T, I know that it really is working. So, I'm here to give testimony--Jesus really does heal people. There is no explanation for why my chord was paralyzed (for the second time!), but he brought it back (again) and that's that. Dr. T says there is no explanation for it. :D

Thanks to all of you who have prayed for me. I still don't have my singing voice back to normal, so I'd love continued prayers. I'd like to be able to sing again, so I can praise Him without being self-conscious. I prefer those times be focused on Him alone...not the fact that my voice hurts or I'm warbling.