"I Ride the combine!"

For some reason my pics aren't loading!

Tune in later - I've got pics of little E riding the combine!
(and a pic of a combine, for you city slickers like myself who have no clue what a combine looks like!!)

Give me a break

"Fly with Jesus"

That phrase is on the window of a door in the neighborhood. I've noticed crosses in the windows & fish bumper stickers on the cars in the driveway. But this morning "Fly with Jesus" was surrounded by glow-in-the-dark spiderwebs, a ghoulish, hideous-looking bat thing, jack-o-lantern sign and of course "Happy Halloween" signs.

"After all, Halloween is a Christian holiday!"

Ok, if Halloween is Christian, lets do some quick research. Go to google.com...type in "History of Halloween" - the first ten links all talk about celtic/druid origins. And last time I checked, celtic/druid was pagan, not Christian. And it's about contacting the dead - which the Bible speaks very strongly against.
Next go to Google image search (I don't really advise this, it's gross). The first page of images is full of ghouls, nastiness & witches.
How about the latest Jo-Ann Fabrics add - covered front to back with witches, vampires and gobblins.

My friends, if ever there was a celebration of the world's to stay out of it's Halloween. If you're in the 20-30 year old range think back to high school - what did all the girls dress up as?
1) Vampires
2) French Maids
3) Hippies
4) Prostitutes
At least that's the way it was in my school. It's the one chance people have to be something they are not, and most often the hideous and suggestive is chosen.

I do not think our children will miss out on life if they sit this one out. But sit it out in wisdom. Let's not be afraid to point things out that are evil. Witchcraft, fornication, paganism & contacting the dead are all dealt with by God in scripture. Let's open our hearts to HIS Word and look honestly at this "holiday" for what it is.

Contradictions

You, know, it's funny the things we say when we are young and know everything.
This is a "chocolate" set that was given to my parents 31 years ago for their wedding. I have no idea of if she ever used it, I only saw it once, when we were packing to move while I was in college and I said "Oh that is soooo cool - leave it to me in your will!" To which my mother said - go ahead and take it now!

When I was young my mother had these dishes she called the "Crystal Beach" dishes. They were also "Breakfast dishes" and very beautiful. They were kept in a glass-windowed cupboard, and rarely used. I always wanted to use those dishes for breakfast, lunch, brunch, whatever! But no, they were special.
So I vowed I would never have special dishes. I would use my good dishes every day.

Last week as I looked at my kitchen shelf with this "chocolate" set nicely placed on it I laughed. In the year since placing them on the shelf, I'd only brought them down to dust. So in realization that I'd done the very evil I vowed never to do - shutting those mugs up for "something special" I took down the pot, filled it with coffee and felt like a proper Englishwoman enjoying my hot beverage with a cup and saucer.

I wonder how much of our lives are lived like that. We have our "special" clothes for Sunday. Do we also have "special" attitudes for Sunday? Oh, it's Sunday, better put on my "worship" attitude. Then back on the shelf it goes, looking great but doing nothing until next week. I fear that we in America live our lives so fragmented, myself included. We so easily fall into the system of dividing our lives into pieces, each placed on the shelf for it's "special" moment. Ok, now it's time to worship, now it's time to study, now it's time to read to E, now it's time to talk with so-and-so. What if every moment of our lives we lived our faith - living and real. What if we obeyed the command of Deuteronomy 6? Oh that our "spiritual" times would never be separated from everyday life. Each moment is a moment to worship the King of Glory.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9
"These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them dilligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

Round is a shape

It's time for a rousing game of - you guessed it:
Guess That Girth!!
Give your estimate on inches around!
No, that's not a basketball in my shirt, but put one in yours and try to walk without waddling!

I have no prize to give the winner, so I will give a clue.
The distance around is the answer to life's most important question, according to Douglas Adams.

Ah, sillyness for a moment, but I thought it'd be fun for those not around to see how the peanut grows within.