Pure Joy!

2 Day's in a row!!! I'm so excited bout that! Oh wait, you don't know what I'm talking about do you? Walking my girls to school has been pure joy the past 2 day. There have been no tears, no fits, no fights! 

It was getting to the point, I was dreading the whole process! I had to take a week off, cuz it wasn't fun and it should be fun. If I show up and we sing songs and talk about stuff that 5-7 year olds like to talk about, by golly it should be fun! Not even taking into account that I am a blast to be around! 

So, I took that week and I thought about how we could get pass this hump that seemed so high and difficult to get over. Then it came to me! 

Stickers!

That's right stickers! All grown ups should walk around with stickers in their pockets! They are the perfect, light weight bribing gift ever! That's right…I am not above bribing kids! There I said it!

Straight from Heaven!

We had a rather quiet weekend. Well, it was longer than a weekend, more like Wednesday to Sunday kind of quiet. My favorite little people went to surprise their Grammie for her birthday and she lives in one of those states up in yankee land that begins with an "I". They drove up there, had a blast, and drove home. You know how that is, feels like you spend more time on the road than with the folks you go to see?

The bus came by and got Chloe, which is my clue to get out the door, get my charges so we can head off to school. I stepped out the front door, and there was Lily and Ryan walking after Scout the kitten, who had gone across the street. I stood there watching them, so very glad to have them within ear shot again. With hands on hips, Ryan turned and saw me. I held my arms out wide and he started running to me, so I naturally started running to him. Lily saw what was happening and she began to run too. 

I'm the kind of person that doesn't get all crazy about kids, really! They are small annoying people that make messes and cry a lot. But… 

These kids give hugs straight from heaven! God knew I needed those hugs so he sent these kids to me this morning! These kids are not like any other kids, they are my friends.

Thank you God for bring them all home safely so it can get back to normal around here with the yelling and screaming and crying. 

I must be getting soft. 

US!

This is us! Ava, me and Lily. You think I could make my eye's disappear any more than that?

In my defense, I was squatting, had my arm around Ava, Lily came up and sat on me which meant we both ended up on the floor. So we had been laughing!

I love these kids! If you would have asked me about them last year I would have given you a very different answer. Now, I know Ava will always be dressed in something fabulous, and Lily will be bossing the world. This is just half of the kids too, the half that I have been entrusted to get to school on time in the mornings!

Preacher man and I were talking the other night about when kids remember stuff. Lily is 7, if we were to move tomorrow, Lily will probably remember parts of us. Ava is 5, chances are if we were to move tomorrow, she wouldn't remember us. Ryan is 3, and he's a boy, he ain't gonna remember nothin'! So I've got to get busy to make sure these kids remember us!

Lily told me that the kids in class found out she had 15 chickens and now they call her chicken girl. She told me she was ok with that. 

Let me tell you what Ava wore today! That hat... it has sparkles on it, oh and that's Lilies hat. Under the sweater, is a shirt...it has sparkles on it too. The skirt... yip sparkles. That is one sparkler kinda girl!

I know I've only been doing this for 2 day's but I think I understand why people like being crossing guards! 

New Job?

Chloe in tyedye, Lily with hand on
head, Ava with smoke.

So, Guess What?!?! I got a new job! Another job?! A volunteer opportunity?!! The name of this new, whatever it is, is called; Walking the girls to school! 

Now that I think about it, it's all a blur, but I do remember going to the neighbor's Friday morning to either feed my chicken friends or something really important. I walked into the house, for some reason and mass pandaemonium had already ensued. The next thing I know, I was walking with the whole herd to the elementary school.

Momma Woo has to get Lily to 2nd grade and Ava to Pre-K between 7:30 and 7:45, the bus picks up Chloe at 7:40 this week and Ryan has to be taken somewhere in NLR by 8:00, I think that's right. So, I got to thinking, why don't I help by walking the girls to school.

We had gone to bed with our hair wet and bradded, so this morning, it was wild hair! We both had on cute dresses, huge backpacks and flashy shoes. Lily talked the whole way and Ava watched her shoes flash with each step.

Tomorrow, I going to take a picture of them and ask them what they are thankful for. 

Me, I'm thankful for the hugs I get when they leave for the day!    

Little People!

Things have taken a strange turn around here and I just have to remark...I got a comment on my last post...and I almost started crying. I feel not only seen, but read! Jan and Roger, you are sorely missed by the Workman's from the earlier day's of Emmaus. 

OK, I'm back! 

Listen, the cuke's are gone. I don't know how else to say it. They got a mildew and poof they were gone. Preacher man and I took them out in bags last weekend and then look what happened!

  

That's what the city refers to as Yard Refuge!

What do you think?

Here's another shot.

See how far it is in the grass?

How do I mow under this?

Wow!

This is me walking, pretty cool huh?

So here's what happened, little people moved these limbs from their yard to my yard. You can bet your bottom dollar I already talked with said little people and they have been warned to keep it on the asphalt.

Dang ole tree limbs in my yard anyway...

  

I did this yesterday! 

Roasted Tomatoes!!!

The woman that gave birth to the little people, as infants, instructed me in this loveliness. 

What's a neighbor to do? 

Simply

I've been thinking about what it means to live simply or to simply live. They go hand in hand now that I've been thinking about it. So what does that look like? Have you ever thought about reducing your carbon foot print? Do you even care? 

Here's some things I've either done or I'm trying to work into our lives.

I'm hanging our clothes out to dry. I know there are people out there that don't like the feel of line dried towels on their soft supple skin, but I personally think there is nothing better than a thirsty towel. Not to mention, that I'm drying my clothes with the help of nature. They smell good, iron up awesome, and it just makes me feel good to do it. 

Something else is recycling our trash. The city helps with this by providing awesome yellow trash cans and picking our stuff up every other week. I enjoy the fact that I have more recycle than trash and feel they should pick up recycle more often than trash! One things has really opened my eye's while we've been doing this recycling, it's how much we package stuff that is just silly and wasteful. If producers would cut down on packaging, we wouldn't have so much recycle to deal with.

These are just some things we've been doing to live simply, which helped us to see how important it is to simply live. To slow down and tune off the world and just be. It's hard to do when you work for a church and live beside small children, but it's the kids that help me see it's all about running as fast as you can, finding that turtle, being pushed on a swing, and eating blackberries. It's sitting on the back porch, watching the birds at the feeder and the ones that are living in the cucumber plants. It's about making enough dinner to last for a few more meals so you just heat it up. It's simple, everyday stuff that I'm doing to help us live in The presence. 

It's all we really have and all we've been promised. Yesterday is gone and we pray we learned those lessons. Tomorrow might not ever get here, so what are you waiting on? 

We're heading out today for some R&R. Just want to sit around and watch birds and eat good food and talk a slow story. Don't want no drama, or excitement, or other peoples issues. Just wanna be in the moment and simply live into it with all I've got!

Lesson's from Ava!

I was watching my friend Ava the other day, and I asked myself the question; When did I stop believing in myself? What happened and when did it happen? All I know is I started believing what others thought was right and what I knew was wrong? Ava has a song going on in her head at all times. She talks to flowers, dogs, chickens and people in a way that makes them all feel special. Then, she turns and does a little leap with a few circles, and off she goes.

I can do that, but at times, it's hard, because I've believed the lie that I'm wrong and they are right. It's like my self worth is wrapped up in what people think. The killer is they are the unimportant people in my life! So why and when does this happen?

I guess I heard it somewhere, Oh what do you know your; too young, a girl, unset, immature, too old, uneducated, too educated, new, too emotional. The long and short of it is, yes, at one time or another, all of these things have been or are true. Then I remembered something, I am the beloved! The most precious child of the King! The only thing that matters is I listen to His voice and what he has to say about me.

It's hard at times, cuz everyone else's voice is louder and their remarks are not nice and it just hurts. So, I'm having a small pity party for myself, but it started last week. I'm thinking it's time to be done with it and get on with the real matters at hand. Picking cuke's making pickles, changing the sign, having a lunch meeting, and meeting a friend after work. I need to decompress and talk to my dog, my plants, feed my chicken friends, do a little leap and a few circles and off I go!  

Random

We have hit a thick, ruff spot, and when that happens I either go into a deep dark place overloaded with mediative paranoia, or I become hysterically indifferent. I'm hanging out in between these places right now, so you will need to bear with me as my postings may seem off colored for a while.

VBS is done! I find that every year at this time, I wonder why we do it? Are we building the kingdom, saving souls for Jesus, blowing off steam, or just acting like a bunch of 8 year olds? The questions I'm left with are: What does Lazarus have to do with the farm? Why do we belittle our leaders? And who comes up with this stuff? 

Preacher man asked me a great question last night, maybe it was more of a statement. Wonder what Jesus thought about ministry? Ministry is hard! We knew this before getting into it, cuz we were into it before we went to seminary. One of my beloved professor use to say; Ministry would be awesome if it wasn't for the people! It's so true, yet it's also one of the reason's you get into ministry. To help other's grow up in Christ. 

At times, I'd rather be a farmer.  

VBS

Woke up this morning and my first thoughts were, What in the Sam Hill was I thinking!? I am so tired! Oh yeah, VBS. Which I believe should be changed to AWM: Adults Without Minds! VBS gives people like me a chance to act like we're 8 again and get away with it! Then, in the morning I feel like I'm much older than 8!

Steffanie (Ellie), John Michael (Jethro) and myself (Maybell) were the music part of the program. They were the music, I was the silly, which was perfect! See little miss sassy pants in the pink down front? Yeah, we got her number! Thinks she's a gymnasts and all. If my Niece were there she would have been put in her place.

So this was the first night, Preacher man and I get tonight off cuz the family is coming in town for a baseball game. Wednesday will be the program and we are done with this year! Thank you Sweet Jesus!

VBS is always a good indicator of how your church is doing with growth. Young kids, young families = growth. It's also a good time for members to come out, volunteer and give back. It can open your eyes to strengths and weakness. I mean let's face it, when you have to keep kids entertained for 2 1/2 hours, the cream rises to the top. Jethro and Ellie were the cream! It was a pure honor to stand up there beside them and shake my tail feathers!   

Feeding Time!

We started our Advent Bible Study last night, and if my counting is correct, there were 19 of us there. I was happy to see more than 12, but with a Sunday attendance number of 140, you would think a few more would have showed up.  The real bummer is this is Advent! Let's look forward to the coming of the King together!!

This got me to thinking about the purse party I had on Monday. I know it sounds strange, but stick with me and see where I'm going before you call me crazy and click onto something else. I sent out an email to 30 people, had the event posted on Facebook, made phone calls, and sent out 25 postcard reminders. Had about 35 people coming until the day of the party got here. Slowly, through out the day, the calls started coming in. I ended up with 7 people that night. We had a nice time and I was tickled that they showed up, but my point goes a little deeper than that.

As a church, we expect the Pastor to feed us. This is Biblical (John 21) and it's their job. It's also their job to make disciples of Jesus Christ! Tell me how that can be done if you are showing up once a week and expecting your tank to get filled, and last you for the week, on I might add, a 15 minute feeding? We are setting ourselves up to die from malnutrition!

The problem is not what we are getting fed on Sunday, it's what we are feeding ourselves Monday through Saturday! The sheep have their job to do too you know! It's our responsibility to eat! Anyone who lives on milk, still being an infant, is not acquainted with the teachings about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish between good and evil. Heb. 5:13-14

Here's the deal: It's the Pastor's job to serve up Word, hot and fresh every Sunday! It's also their job to ensure that there are other feedings going on during the week to feed us hungry sheep!

Sheep of the church, it's our job, right, and responsibility to eat. If we refuse to study, apply it, pray some during the week, join a small group and dig deeper with others, theres not much the Pastor can do for us!

So when we talk to your fellow sheep, and hear things like I'm not getting fed, and we know there are feedings going on during the week, cuz we're at them, and don't see them. We might want to remind them that drinking milk is fine while your an infant, but if you want to mature in your faith, you have to train yourself and start eating the meat that's being offered.

Just my thoughts from this side of the street!

Visitation

It should get to 102 degrees again today! They say it should be cooling off this weekend. Who are they and how do they know? How did we ever get along without them, before they were them? Reminds me of the whole cell phone thing, and cassette players in cars. 

Preacher man is preparing for his first funeral as a Preacher man. Well, he's doing everything but giving the sermon and he's fine with that. Just so long as the family is taken care of and their wishes are done. One of the questions that the family brought up was, What is the proper thing to do with the children? I found this something I have an opinion on...surprise!!! Here's the way I see it:
Preacher man has spent his whole life around funeral's. He comes from a large family and a lot of them were older. So as a kid, he went to funeral's. He also is from the school of thought that you keep the children in church services and they sit there without entertainment and be quite and pay attention. I believe that being around visitations and funerals has given Preacher man the leg up on how to act at said occasions. 

As for me...I was protected from the visitation/funeral thing as a child. I know Mom & Dad had the best intentions with this. But here's the deal; the first time I was ever at a visitation, that I know of, it was for my Grandaddy and I was 38 years old! Needless to say, I still don't know what to say or not say, how to act or what not to do at these things. I cling to Preacher man in a desperate way of trying to learn the right way to do all this awkward stuff. You should see him! He's like a White Swan landing on a still lake, it's beautiful, comforting and something to experience.

So my thought is, we are protecting kids from things they need to be learning. This might be part of the reason 25 year olds are still living at home and can't seem to find a job that specks to their hearts. Why Grandparents are raising their grandkids and our churches are closing down. We've protected ourselves right out of real life! So bring your kids to church and bring them to visitations and funerals! Take the opportunity to teach them about real life instead of letting them play games on their cells phones! When they throw a fit, take care of business outside the main room and make them come back in and behave! Stop protecting them from the lessons that life has to teach them. God really is bigger than all that and if you rely on Him to help you, you can't go wrong!

Just saying...