The tongue carries responsiblity with it!

In our family devotions every evening, Dad has been reading from James and last week we talked about James 3 - the untamable tongue.

James 3:1, "My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment." I am so blessed and privileged to teach my class of little ones each Sunday morning, but also with that joy comes responsibility. What I teach, my words, my actions are all being observed and copied; whether I realize it or not.

One of my frequent prayers every week is that the Lord will help me to teach His Word accurately and truthfully. God will and does hold me accountable for what I teach, what I say and the example I give to those I am teaching. God gives us as teachers a greater responsibility to use Scripture correctly and to teach what is accurate. And not only in what we teach, but also how we act. Not only should we be teaching it; we should also be doing it.

My tongue and the words I use can be used in the right way or the wrong way. James 3:8-9, "But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude (likeness) of God." So true! Is everything I say going to be perfect and correct? No, I'm not perfect. I sin; I make mistakes daily. But only through God's grace and help every Sunday, can I teach what He desires me to.

Teaching is not just something that I get up every Sunday morning, read my lesson material and start teaching when the kids arrive. No, I think about, study and review my lesson material. I bring Scripture into the text and interweave something that the kids can do and implement into their lives the following week that relates back to the Bible story.

It's natural for kids, especially younger ones to look up to their parents, teachers and those around them. Naturally they look up to those people and try to imitate and do what they do. I did/do the same thing. I've seen and experienced that in teaching at camp and Sunday School and it really makes me stop and evaluate what I am doing. Am I being a godly example to those who are watching me? Can they see Christ's love through me? Am I elevating Jesus Christ and not myself?

I watch my Dad every week prepare and study for the class he teaches every Sunday. I'm amazed at the time and preparation he puts in every week to dig into the Scripture, search out the context of verses and relate the passage he's teaching to other Scripture references. It's time consuming. It takes work every week. But, oh, it's so worth it to be used by God and letting Him speak through you to others each week! I so enjoy my class of little ones every Sunday and am blessed that God has given me the opportunity to share God's Word with them.

The favorite memory verse my class loves is Psalm 34:13, "Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies." I have to admit the main reason they love to review this verse is because we sing it and hold our tongues as we do. (Hide'Em in Your Heart Scripture Memory by Steve Green.) Challenging and the kids love it! But it's also an excellent reminder that what I say can be a blessing or damaging to others.

It looks like May instead of August

With our recent rain, Dad actually had to mow the lawn on Friday! I was doing some cooking in the kitchen and all of a sudden heard the mower. I looked outside and yep, Dad was mowing. The lawn looks so green and spring looking! You would think it's May instead of the end of August!

Why did it take me so long????

You would think I could figure out a simple matter such as this, but it took me almost two weeks of wrestling with it before it finally clicked in my head!

Ever since I bought my ipod, I knew it was missing something: wireless technology. About every piece of computer equipment I have now is wireless and those little wires connected my ipod to my ears just get in the way at times. Why can't they invent a device to make my ipod bluetooth compatible??

I thought they had and kinda sorta they did, just not according to my standards! You see I wanted something small that will fit in my ear so it's hidden and I won't look totally ridiculous when I'm wearing it as I am shopping. Then I won't have this little white wire connecting my ear to my pocket! :)

I came across this bluetooth adapter that plugs into my ipod port and would make it bluetooth compatible to a stereo headset, so of course I was thrilled and bought one off of eBay. Just what I had been waiting for!!! Perfect!!! I was so excited and could hardly wait for it to get here!

Received it in the mail and tried over and over to connect it with my bluetooth headset. I tried everything over several days time and could not get it to connect. I even resorted to reading the directions and still no success. Ok, maybe the bluetooth headset I had wasn't able to pair with the device, so I ordered a different one and tried it. (Thankfully I did need a different one anyway, in addition to the ipod issue!) Surely a phone, headset and ipod bluetooth adapter all bearing the Motorola brand would connect to each other, right?

Well, not quite. The phone and headset, no problem, but not the ipod.

Finally I went back online, did some more research and checking and ordered a different kind of adapter to connect to my ipod from another company.

After a several day wait, it arrived in the mail and I again tried pairing it with my headset. No connection made. Ok, reread the directions. Still nothing. Ok, try Jena's ipod since it is newer than mine. Nope, that's not it. Hmmm....I'm stumped! Ok, stop, think on it for a couple of days, recharge every device I now own and try again later.

So one evening this week I set aside a couple of hours and decided I was going to figure this thing out and get it to connect or figure out why it wouldn't. I sat down with my computer, two headsets, two ipods, two bluetooth adapters and multiple sheets of instructions.

I tried connecting anything and everything and I could not pair any ipod with any headset. I kept looking online, reading, typing questions into Google, jumping from page to page trying to figure out why in the world I couldn't get a connection.

Finally it hit me as I reread the listing for the adapter I bought: Ipod Bluetooth Stereo Adapter.

Yes, stereo adapter. How many times did I read that little six letter word and it didn't click??? All the times I tried connecting, rereading the directions, researching Motorola's website, purchasing these headsets and adapters online...did it ever dawn on me that the headsets I had were...um...mono, not a stereo headset??? (Non-technical meaning: A stereo audio connection is two lines of lines of streaming audio, but mono is only one line of streaming audio.)

In a word....no. Just plain no.

That's why I said before, "they did, just not according to my standards". To make these little adapters work correctly they will only pair with a stereo headset such as this or this. Which I would feel much less awkward with little white wires connecting my ear to my pocket than one of those on my head while shopping at the mall.

At least I did figure it out. Anybody need a bluetooth ipod adapter or bluetooth headset? I seem to have collected a couple extra!!! :) So much for my brilliant idea.....

Maybe I should start searching Google for a way to stream stereo audio into a mono device....hmmm....or maybe I should just give up considering how much time I have already spent on this issue. Yep, that's probably the best idea.

Cooking and baking is great for a rainy day!

Last Saturday was a perfect day for baking something! Don't you ever just get the feeling or urge to bake something...like something sweet?!?! I especially get that inkling when it's cold and rainy outside. And since it rained the week before when I had sewing deadlines and couldn't bake, Saturday was the day!

Actually I was just going to bake enchiladas for lunch and then decided to bake oatmeal cookies. I absolutely just love oatmeal cookies...especially the dough!! After all, the best part about cookies and baking is eating part of it as you are making it, right?!?! :)

I started measuring the shortening and sugar and then remembered that I already had oatmeal cookie dough in the freezer. I know I'm strange but in our freezer you will find oatmeal cookie dough (and sometimes other kinds as well) just because the dough is sometime so much better than the baked cookies!!! So I switched to snickerdoodles. I doubled the recipe, baked half of it, rolled the remaining dough into little balls and froze it so it will be quick and easy to bake the rest if I need them in a pinch.

Although snickerdoodle cookie dough still can't beat oatmeal cookie dough, it still was yummy!!

Baking snickerdoodles...oh, and the baby monitor receiver in the
background...just what is that? I was stitching a
design on my machine downstairs and carry that with me so I can
hear my machine stop and I know to change thread colors! :)

Enchiladas cooking in the oven.
Yeah, I know, cleaning the oven is on my list to-do!

Don't those look yummy...even the baked ones?!?! :)

Just too cute for words!

Even though Skittles little kitten is black and not the Siamese coloring I wanted, he is still so cute!!! And because pictures can describe this so much better than words, here they are!


The other evening I walked into my room, glanced at the kitten's bed and didn't see him there. I walked toward my dresser, glanced across the room and spotted this little black spot curled up in my stuffed bear on the floor!

There he is!!! :)

Skittles sleeping nearby under the bed...

The next morning I woke up, jumped out of bed, making sure I didn't land on the little black ball of fur and again, saw that little black spot all curled up in that white teddy bear! I soon discovered that when Skittles was not in my room, this little black kitten found a new mother to curl up next to and sleep! Just about every time I walk into my room...there he is!

And the funny thing is that he will play with the paws
of that bear...it's so hilarious to watch it!

He likes to play with his mama also,
even if she deserts him half of the time!!

Skittles will hide around the corner of my closet
and all of a sudden jump out at her kitten!

How can you resist picking up and cuddling a cute little kitten like this...and you know what?!?! I just thought of a name that might work for this little black one...I'll have to think about that....:)

Finally...rain and more rain!

After a couple months of dry, hot weather....it finally cooled down a little and we received some rain last week! Over an inch!!! Praise the Lord!!! We needed it so badly! Dad even sold some cattle last week (the day before it rained, of course!) because he just didn't have enough grass for all of them.

Thankfully the weather has cooled down as well. I could not believe it this morning as I stepped outside to go into church...it was actually cold outside! And coming home at noon the temp. in our van said 69 degrees. 69 degrees!!! Can you believe that...in Kansas...in the middle of August?!?! Wonderful!! :)

It never felt so fantastic to look out my sewing room window
and actually see the rain against the window!!

Skittles and her kittens

Skittles had her kittens on July 23rd. I was so glad she waited until after we arrived home from camp! She had five little ones, but one was born dead. Four little white ones and one little black one. The little white ones were so cute! White with little dark ears and tails...I'm sure they would have had some Siamese markings like Skittles.

I'm not sure what was wrong or why, but all the white little kittens died. By the time 5 days had gone by, there was only the black kitten left. Of course, you know, that is the very way it works. The very ones I wanted were the very ones that didn't live. Not that the black one is cute, because it is, but I really wanted some Siamese.

I can't say that Skittles is the best of mothers. The kitten is in my room and she will stay in there at night with me (sleeping on the bed with me instead of with her kitten on the floor half the night!), but when I am upstairs or in my sewing room during the day, half the time she is with me. And then her kitten is downstairs screaming! But at least it's here and still alive! :)

one day old four little kittens

One night I woke up to a screaming kitten and discovered that Skittles had moved one of the two remaining kittens into my closet and left it there. I got up and moved it back into the box. A couple of hours later there was more intense screaming and I got up to discover that she moved both her kittens this time. I moved them back to her box. Finally after I got home from church that same day, she moved them again and I decided just to leave them there. I couldn't take another night of that screaming and moving around! :)

only one little black one left!

The journey of the footprints...

The footprints were a success at camp this year! For each memory verse, the campers were able to tape a footprint with their name on it on the wall. We started the journey at Moab and continued all around the dining room to Bethlehem. Quite a sight to see!

I marked the wall with colored sticky dots so the kids would know where to put the prints and it worked great! Although it was quite a chore on Friday afternoon taking all those footprints down off the wall. But worth it 100%!!

Edit: I didn't mention this when I originally posted this, but there were a total of 250 footprints the first week of camp and 397 the second week of camp!! That's a lot of Bible Verses being memorized!!! :) Great work by the campers!!!

A visit to the treehouse

The tree house at camp has been under construction for years. Little by little each year there are new improvements and there will continue to be in the years ahead. One year a new swinging bridge. Another summer a deck of the tree house. The next summer a three story wood tree house.

It's always neat to see what is new and improved each summer. Clara and Luke had asked me several times to go see the tree house and the animals there, so one day we took a trip over there.

First, take a walk across the swinging bridge...

...and then decide to go up to the tree house
or down to see the animals...

There it is! All three levels!

...walking up the wooden path...

Going up to the tree house, there are chairs on the second level.
The first week Mike taught his Bible class out here.

There's even a curved staircase to go up to the third floor!

A screen door is at the top of the stairs.

Clara and I

There are hammocks and mattresses for sleeping.
It's completely enclosed with screens and
looks nice. One week a group of boys slept
out here and unfortunately it rained that night.
With a tin roof, it was quite a noisy night! :)

I really can't imagine sleeping in one of
these, but it must be possible.

...back down the stairs...

Clara's attempt at picture-taking! :)

Clara and Luke