I'd Be LOST Without the Random Dozen

No, not a reference to the TV show. (Although Linda@2nd Cup of Coffee meant it as a reference to the TV show. I was just hurting for a title.) Here we go with this week's Random Dozen.

1. Have you ever been so lost that you were really afraid?
I've been lost a few times, but not long enough to be really afraid. The only town I can manage to get lost in is where my in-laws live. Most of that town is at an angle to the world (not many straight north/south, east/west streets) because of the river that runs through it. I have actually stopped to ask for directions there. I think I will be thankful for the GPS on my new phone.

2. Have you ever been to an island?
Uh-huh. A couple of years ago we went on a cruise around the Hawaiian islands. That was awesome! And I lived on the island of Singapore for three years. It is an island 15 miles by 25 miles and has 4+ million people. Interestingly, I hardly ever saw the ocean while I was there. The beaches are nasty because it is a major shipping port.

3. Are you more of a thinker or feeler?
Feeler all the way. 'Nough said.

4. Do you tend to see issues or situations in life as black and white or shades of gray?
I think I lean towards black and white.

5. If you were stuck on an island, what book would you hope to have with you (Let's pretend the Bible is already there, so you can't say that.)
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. Such a beautiful picture of God's relentless pursuit of us. I've already read it twice and will likely read it again. And again.

6. What are you most afraid of?
Being alone.

7. Would you rather lose all of your old memories or never be able to make new ones?
I wish we could pick and choose what we remember and what we forget. You know, when something bad happens, flip a switch, forgotten. When a really terrific moment happens, flip a switch, never forget the moment and the feelings that go with it.


8. Pretend I'm looking at a scrapbook page about you. There are three spaces for you to drop in individual pictures. What are those pictures of, and why did you select them?

*My best friend and me. I love him. I am sooo thankful for him.
* My laptop. Perhaps one of the better purchases we have made. I like my laptop. :)

*I like this picture because it shows how I like to be a bit goofy.



9. If you were re-doing your wedding, what would you do differently? (If you're single, tell me one thing you would do if you were planning a wedding OR huge party.)
I would have had a couple of my college girlfriends be bridesmaids. I feel like I really didn't get to choose who I wanted to be attendants. I was told I had to have family members. Other than that, I am happy with the simplicity of our wedding. The best part is that I have been married to my best friend ever since.

10. Tell me one thing you know/believe about forgiveness.
I'd be no where without God's forgiveness. Every time I sing a song that speaks to that, I choke up.

11. You're waiting in a doctor's office. What is your favorite way to pass that time?
I always try to bring a book along. That is one of the reasons I bought a bigger purse is so I can stuff a book in it. Otherwise I'm stuck looking at the magazines. I'd rather read my own book. Now I own a "smart phone" so I can always rely on that as a back up to check FB, or play a game. I'm kinda stuck on one game right now and need to find some others to entertain myself with.

12. If there were a clone of you in a parallel universe what is one way you hope she/he would be the same as you and one way you hope she/he would be better?
Same: sense of humor
Better: skinnier and liked to exercise

Fill in the Blank...

Outside my window...lots and lots of green! I love watching the world come back to life. The irises are coming along nicely and our few token tulips are blooming too.

I am thinking... that I am so proud of my daughter for being admitted to Pharmacy school! What a terrific accomplishment for her. We sent her these cheery flowers after we heard the news.

I am thankful for... my lunch date with my sister-in-law earlier this week. We hadn't done that in years and it was nice to just sit and talk.

I am wearing... denim capris and a light green shirt. I like green. :)

I am remembering... my grandma. I came across a newspaper article written about her when she was 92. She lived to be 96. I miss her phone calls and letters.

I am going... to see our kids this weekend. I am really looking forward to spending some time with them.

I am currently reading... a Laurie Wick novel. I'm also still working on reading through the whole Bible. No, I'm not trying to do it in one year. I think I'm on year four. :) I am reading in the Psalms and Galatians. I just take turns between the old and the new testament.

I am hoping... I can get motivated to exercise more each week and to eat more fruits and veggies.

On my mind... an appointment I have in the morning. I'm kinda dreading it.

Noticing that... it's really dark in here. I've been sitting here for quite a while. I need to get up and turn on some lights.

Pondering these words... He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, 

Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.

From the kitchen... I fixed myself a grilled lobster tail for supper tonight. It was really yummy.

Around the house... everything has been picked up and in order, but the dirt and dust is coming back. Ugh. I hate when that happens.

One of my favorite things... hugging my kids. I get to do that this weekend!

From my picture journal... I haven't made these Butterhorn Rolls since Christmas. They look really good, don't they?

A Wonderful Day

This morning I was listening to Pandora Radio while I was getting ready for church. I heard this David Crowder Band Version of a hymn I haven't heard in a very long time. I thought I would share.



Heaven came down and glory filled my soul
When at the cross my Savior made me whole
My sins were washed away
And my night was turned to day
When heaven came down and glory filled my soul

O, what a wonderful, wonderful day
Day I will never forget
When I was wandering in darkness away
Jesus my Savior I met

O, what a tender compassionate Friend
He met the need of my heart
Shadows dispelling with joy I am telling
He made all the darkness depart

O, what a wonderful, wonderful day,
yeah, today
And O, what a glorious, glorious day
The day You came, came to save me
O, what a wonderful, wonderful day
The day You came and You saved me

Flashback Friday

I'm joining Mocha with Linda today for her Friday Flashback. Click over to her blog to link up or read some more flashbacks! 

Here's Linda's question for this week:

If you have a child in your life, your calendar for April and May is probably quickly filling up with end-of-year activities - performances, recitals, etc. Did you take lessons as a child? Piano or another instrument? Gymnastics or dance? Other types of lessons? Were they weekly? How much were you required to practice between lessons? Did you participate in recitals? If so, do any of them stand out in your memory? Did they foster a love or a hate for that activity? Did you want to take lessons in a certain thing that you never got to? And if you have kids now, how did your experiences with taking lessons like these impact the activities you had/have them do?

I wish I had more pictures form my childhood so I could scan some in and post them!

Anyway... that's not really the focus for this week, is it?

I took piano lessons for 8 (?) years growing up. I think they were weekly lessons. I enjoyed the piano. I am glad I took piano lessons. It taught me how to read music. I can't imagine not knowing how to read music as much as I can't imagine not knowing how to read. I remember riding my bike to piano lessons and my piano book falling out of the white wicker basket and I ran over it with my bike. I remember riding fast to get away from some dog that decided to chase me. I don't recall any recitals. Seems a bit strange to me now that I didn't participate in recitals. I loved to go in the basement after school when I was in high school and play and sing at the top of my lungs. I bought lots of sheet music of popular music. I was pretty sure I could sing You Light Up My Life as good as Debby Boone. :) (I just watched that YouTube and it's a little scary how well I remember the words...) I would be deathly embarrassed when someone would walk in on me.

I never liked to play in front of other people. The one time I remember I did was for my grandparents' 60 Wedding Anniversary. (My grandma thought I could do anything.) I was about 20. I played a hymn and my cousin sang. We were the youngest and oldest grandchildren. I remember starting to play, the room went quiet, I looked up and clutched. From then on I just stared at the music. Somehow I made it through.

I thought I was pretty decent on the piano until I met my husband. He blew me out of the water. He is an amazing pianist. He can play some Billy Joel and Scott Joplin. He has played for church here for the past almost 9 years. I am so proud of him for using his gift that way.


I think because of both of our backgrounds in piano, we really wanted our kids to learn how to play as well. By God's provision I found a really good piano in the want ads for a steal. Our kids started lessons in 1st and 2nd grades. Caleb took for about 6 years. By the time he was halfway through middle school, he was taking saxophone and guitar lessons as well as piano. We told him he could choose which two instruments and the sax and guitar won out. He's still a decent piano player and awesome on the guitar. (He hasn't played the sax since high school.)

Megan took lessons all the way through high school. Her piano teacher stopped taking students Megan's senior year, but continued with Megan. Megan is as good as her dad. I really can't tell which one is playing but just listening. She plays for her church, too. She also excelled on the trumpet in high school.


Music lessons were big in our house. I actually miss listening to the practicing! 


What lessons do I wish I could have taken? Probably voice lessons.

Wannabe Eavesdropper

Just sitting here hanging out at the local coffee shop. It's my hangout of choice since the house is being tromped through by (hopefully) countless strangers messing up my clean floors.

I found a comfy chair in the corner near an outlet to sip my Iced Tea. (I can't stand coffee.) There are two older men sitting across the way from me having a very intense conversation. Ever since I sat down, they have lowered their voices and leaned in to each other to talk. Don't they know people (me) want to eavesdrop? Geesh. I've heard words float by like, pastor, church, salvation. Sounds like a very potentially interesting conversation to me. Maybe I could be encouraged by what they are talking about. Maybe I just need to be entertained. Don't they know that?

Just saying...

Weekend Recap

You might want to fasten your seat-belt. It was a doosey of a weekend.

Megan headed towards home for her eight hour drive around mid-day on Friday. She called me an hour or so later to tell me she had a flat tire! Oh man. What a way to start a trip. I suggested she call her brother since she was still kind of close to where he was. Fifteen minutes later she called again and said the tire was changed and she was back on the road! FIFTEEN minutes! Before she told me what happened I was seriously impressed with that girl's ability to do anything. (and I still am) What had happened was a man had stopped to offer help. She was nervous about a stranger doing that, but she thought he seemed to be very careful about how he acted. (He didn't get out of his truck right away until she had accepted his offer of help.) This mama is Oh So Thankful for that man. I asked Megan if she saw any wings sticking out the back of his shirt or if his name was Michael or Gabriel. :)

The rest of her trip went smoothly. She even arrived home sooner than she first thought she might. And her dad got home from a trip an hour earlier than he thought he would too! Ahhh. We were all together again. (Well, minus Caleb and Amanda.)

Next.

After we ate some supper, Megan started in on her PILE of laundry! What college student wouldn't rather haul home tons of laundry than pay good money to do it. She didn't being it home expecting me to do it. She's been doing her own laundry since she was in 6th grade. By the time the first load should have been done, Megan was in the laundry room checking on it. Soon came the yell of, "Mother, it's never going to empty!" (Why does she call me mother when she's annoyed?) I went in to see what was up and smelled something not good. The machine was full of her clothes and water. Thankfully, it was clean water. So the washing machine is dead. Megan and Zach worked on wringing out her clothes and Zach siphoned the water out. So we put very wet clothes in the dryer.

Next.

About a half an hour later, the carbon monoxide detector started going off. Right when we were getting ready for bed. We couldn't figure why it was beeping. The pattern didn't fit any of the scenarios printed on the device. We debated for a while what to do, then decided to call the fire department. So about 12:30AM a very kind fire man came to the house. There were no toxic fumes in the house. Thankfully.

Next.

The fireman asked us when the last time we cleaned out the dryer duct. (It was still running with Megan's clothes.) He went outside to see if he could feel the airflow at the vent. There was not much coming out.

Saturday morning the hubby called a friend who's wife was coming to the shower (yes, we were having a bridal shower for Megan here that afternoon), so he brought some equipment to help clean out the duct. They ended up working on it for 1 1/2 hours. It was plugged with two bucketfuls of lint and all sorts of grunge. The crazy thing was the way the duct was routed. It was probably 30 feet long, where the shortest route to the outside of the house is probably 5 feet. (There was something muttered about mental midgets --- referring to whoever built the house and decided to do that.)

I'm convinced those string of events were orchestrated by God to prevent a fire that likely could have started under our bedroom right over the utility room with the furnace and water heater and all that stuff.

Next.

Zach and Peter were trying to figure out how to start up the sprinkler system. Zach ended up doing some of his amazing problem solving abilities to figure out that there were some pieces broken on it.

Next.

Kind of minor-ish, but the dispenser part of the ice-maker stopped working.

Next.

It took Pete probably 45 minutes to figure out how to change the garage door combanation.

Next.

The bridal shower was a booming success! I think we had somewhere between 30-35 people here. Whew! My friend Jen was great to work with. She wrote an awesome devotional for Megan. I think my favorite line was when Jen said the best thing about marriage is getting to do life with you best friend. I wholeheartedly agree.

The day before I had called my sister-in-law and asked if she would say a blessing prayer. I thought it would be sweet to come from a family member and I knew I would blubber all over the place. Well, sweet Aunt Kathy shared a beautiful prayer, but blubbered her own way through. It was a special moment. Here's Megan and her Aunt Kathy.

Megan and Zach were blessed with many wonderful gifts. We didn't really play any games. Mostly because the planners (Jen and me) don't like shower games and so we didn't plan any! I did ask Zach a dozen or so questions about himself to "see how well Megan knows him." That was okay. Not a great hit. The best thing was a little video Jen put together. She interviewed a few children from church and asked them questions about Zach and Megan and marriage and dating. Oh, it was SO funny! The stars were the sisters that are going to be the flower girls in their wedding.

Next.

Saturday night we had a nice dinner out to celebrate Pete's birthday. We went with Megan and Zach and our friends Mike and Jen. It was fun to celebrate Pete and to relax after a very busy day.

Next.

Today we have another showing of the house. Thankfully hubby dear helped get everything back in order around here.

Next.

Tomorrow the really nice appliance repairman will come and hopefully make everything all better.

Involuntary Release of Ignorance

I am sad to say that I found a video that describes my brain lately. Please watch this short video, then you will understand. (Sorry that the screen is chopped off, I think you get the gist of it still. You can click on the bottom part of the screen and it will jump you over to YouTube if you want the full effect.)
 


Hope you enjoyed the laugh!