Friend Requests.

I was reminded this morning that God has our future in HIS hands. Mere men may think that they hold the key to our future but in reality they only hold what God allows. God is in ultimate control over everything and HE will act according to HIS will. I must simply watch, wait and trust HIM.

And what is more HE is my Friend. HE cares what happens to me, HE is involved in my life, HE is close to me, HE wants me to talk to HIM, HE wants to be a part of my life. I have been using Facebook as a comparison here. I have friends on my list that I don't really KNOW, I know their name and they mine, I have been acquainted with them in the past or even now, but I could probably clear them off of my friends list and no one would even know or care, we dont' make a difference in each other's lives. But I also have friends that I communicate with very often. Ones that I would miss if I didn't, that I do miss when I haven't talked with them much, ones whose friendship I count on and hold very special close to my heart. THAT is the kind of friendship God has and wants with me. HE misses me when I don't talk to Him. HE counts me a friend. I need to count HIM as one of my friends in this manner. I need to make time to talk WITH HIM and not AT HIM. He not only holds my future but He also wants to be my friend.

Do you have a friend request from God that you haven't accepted? What I have ins't special, He wants it with you too.

Readers

When I talked about organizing the books in our house, I speak of no small task.  There are six people in this household, five of which are capable of reading, of which each of those five are voracious readers.  It is what happens when two readers are raising a family, the kids all love books and reading.  But that means that there are also tons, literally TONS of books in this house.  There are two book cases in my room, FILLED with books, and when I say filled I mean one is double stacked.  The two kids rooms both have book shelves filled to overflowing.  And the at least six of the shelves on the entertainment center are filled with books.  That does not count the books on night stands, in the library box, stacked around my desk, or on the bar, or the TV cabinet under the bar.  Yes there are a lot of books in this house.

However, this isn't about the books, this is about the readers.  It is truly amazing to me to watch my children read.  Help them pick out books, and watch their interest soar.  Today while at the library, I helped both the older boys pick out books they wanted to read.  Bug (6) is really into space and jokes right now so finding the joke book devoted entirely to jokes on space was a huge delight to him.  Buddy (8) is really getting into rhyme and rhythm so the Dr. Suess books like Green Eggs and Ham, though quite a bit below his reading level are really fun for him right now.  Bug is even picking up on the cadence and liking to read them aloud too.  Pumpkin (11), whose current obsession is horses, choices all included horse related books, both informational and fiction.  They all also signed up for the Summer Reading Program and have already a good start on their reading lists since we have returned home.  It just makes my heart happy.

Blogging habits

Today I am reexamining why I write in my blog.  Early on in my blogging career it was simply a snapshot into my days.  I wrote and I processed the things going on around me and in my life.  At the time I had a 3 year old, and one less than a year old.  I also had a husband that worked during the second shift while I worked days.  I had a lot of evening time to myself and I wrote.  It was interesting.  I wrote out the story of meeting my husband, though when I went back and read it last year I realized some of the extraneous details of that story were somewhat shaded by my experiences at the time.  I wrote about challenges I faced in my classroom and with my children.  I blogged the pregnancy of my third child and was bursting with the news of my younger sister's pregnancy.  I wrote about the passing of my beloved grandmother and her impact on me. I wrote about many things, those are some of the things I member most about those early years.  I made quite a few friends blogging and blogging brought me into contact with an amazing group of women I would not have ever met if I had not started blogging.  (I challenge you to use the word blogging three times in one sentence)

Over the years however, my blogging has changed and I am not sure I like that change.  I started reading and following other blogs and thinking they were 'better' than mine I decided to imitate them and be more 'profound'.  Well what I found is that I don't blog nearly as much as I used to and my writing has suffered because of that fact. For one who aspires to write more, that is not a good thing. So I am resolving to go back to my roots so to speak and blog from my heart once again.  

Now

This is the month of NOW - at least according to NaBloPoMo.  And I don't mean the radical feminist organization.

Now can mean a lot of things.  It can mean not putting off hard or unwanted tasks until tomorrow or some other convenient time ~which never seems to come.   It can mean just concentrating on the here and now and the next job in front of you rather than being overwhelmed by the enormity of the tasks or the day.  I can also mean concentrating on now, and not worrying about what may or may not come tomorrow, or what has happened in the past. It can also mean that NOW is the time for what you have been Anticipating.

For me and my part of this theme I will be concentrating on the first three of those possibilities and letting God work on the fourth one, with a little hope.

Tuesday Thoughts

Today is our Monday, and I don't mean that because yesterday was a holiday.  You see when he works a 'normal' five day week, Dad has Sunday and Monday off, so often real Monday's get treated like Saturday's around here and thus Tuesday's become our Monday's, so this week we are just like the rest of the world.

But today also begins a change in me.  I am going to work this summer on several goals.  Those were actually written a few weeks ago and I have yet to start on them.  But today, the unofficial start to summer, I am going to be working on them, and reworking them.  It is a start, a jumping off point, but to tell you the truth, several of them weren't very well thought out at the time, and several of them have changed because of circumstances and situations, that have arisen between then and now.  So today I start.

Also how approraite that the theme of the month for NaBloPoMo is NOW, for it is NOW I am starting now. so among my goals will be finishing NaBloPoMo this month.  (and if I can't think of anything to say they now have writing prompts on the main site every weekday.)

I will start with a notebook, several lists and a lot of prayer.  I  also have quite a bit to do today so I will share more later.  So off of here and to my notebook.

Water in the desert

I have been very lax with my reading and Bible study.  However, after a particularly rough night last night, I heeded the call and was drawn to my Bible.  I lay there and read for nearly an hour.  To say that water was welcome in the desert would be understating the comparison.  My soul just drank up the words and the balm was so relieving for me.  I didn't even search out comforting scriptures, which I would have normally done.  I just  picked up where I left off in my Narrated Bible.  Just to show you how much that I needed the Word in my life.