Don't you know you learn it all in preschool?!

In Sunday School this morning we were discussing thankfulness, drawing things that we are thankful for and then attaching those drawings with leaves to the trees we made.

As I was helping Rebekah draw, we had this conversation:

Rebekah asking me: How can you draw like that?
Felicity in her cute, "don't you know?" voice: Because she went to preschool!

And so I learned this morning that you learn EVERYTHING there is to know in preschool. :)

God's Word IS living and powerful!

Each Wednesday, it's such a delight to see kids trooping into the fellowship hall at church for a couple of hours. Our little group of two or three has grown to seven and then nine and hopefully more in the days ahead. What a blessing and encouragement that has been to Errin and I each week.

Since my sisters had been home over the weekend, I taught my quilt class in Dodge on Monday and ended up battling my machine again on Tuesday, I did not feel nearly as prepared to teach Wednesday afternoon as I normally am. That morning I quickly read over the story of Joseph, figuring out how I was going to weave in the theme of forgiveness before packing up my supplies for the afternoon and driving to the church.

After getting off to a late start, we had our snacks and I breathed a quick prayer asking the Lord to help me think and bring out the points I wanted to as I was teaching. I should realize by now that even when I'm the least prepared, God still uses what I say and works through me to reach the hearts of the kids listening. Two important things stood out as I was teaching that thrilled my heart! Here are some bits and pieces from the lesson of Joseph.

In my usual animated voice story-telling way, I started to talk about Joseph and that he had 11 brothers and was his father's favorite. But how his brothers hated him and were jealous of the beautiful coat of many colors that Jacob, their father, had given exclusively to Joseph.

As Joseph traveled to check on his brothers as per his father's request, his brothers saw him afar off and whispered among themselves trying to decide what to do about this brother that they hated. They decided that as soon as he arrived they would throw Joseph into a large pit in the ground so he could not get out and then take his coat of many colors, tear it and spread blood on it from an animal they killed.

At this point, I totally have their attention. I see all these pairs of eyes looking up at me and as I am talking about ripping Joseph's coat and the brother's telling their father of the "fate" of Joseph that they made up, Felicity (in kindergarten) all of a sudden puts her hands over her mouth and says, "Ohhh, that's lying."

To which I respond, "Yes, it is. And is that right or wrong? What is lying?" I still have that mental image in my head - she fully understood what they were doing and that is was wrong. Adorable and yet paying attention to what I was saying!

I finished teaching the story, ending where Joseph's brothers go to Egypt because of the famine and how Joseph forgave his brothers for what they had done to him many years before. And then Alex raises her hand and asks in a voice of awe, "How do you know all these stories?"

To which I said, "These are not just pretend stories, they are true. They really happened and they come from the Bible. Remember how we talked about that God's Word is true and that's how God teaches us and shows us what is right and wrong? Well, the story I just told you is in the Bible, every bit of it."

I turned my Bible to the book of Genesis, laid it in the middle of the table and showed them where the author talks about Joseph and the coat his father gave him. I started picking out verses and reading bits and pieces from the story such as Joseph's dreams he had and that he was sold as a slave to Egypt, going over again what I had previously told them.

Then in my scheduled mind, I am thinking we need to move on, so I started closing my Bible and Alex stops me and says, "No, keep reading. Read this part." They were excited about reading directly from God's Word! Their intent faces and interest was totally centered on listening to God's Word!

I usually have them look up a couple verses in the Bible and read them during the course of what I'm teaching, but just verbally tell them the story. But seeing their interest in actually reading the story and what happened from God's Word was such a thrill, I may have to do that again.

Is the Word of God living and powerful as stated in Hebrews? No doubt about it!

Hunched over the table, reading from God's Word.

See their interest?! So exciting and thrilling!
I love Alex's face in this one!

No matter what happens...

...God is sovereign and fully in control of each and every little thing. I know that, but to keep trusting that fact and not worrying about things has been easier said than done the last couple of months.

Yesterday afternoon I had the all-too-familiar-situation of having my embroidery machine turn off without success of turning back on...again. And then the same all-too-familiar-situation of packing it up, loading it in the car and taking it back to be repaired...again. The last two months I've dealt with this over and over again.

Needless to say my frustration level has gone from minor worry to major panic several times because I didn't have a machine to embroider or stitch what I needed to do...all with deadlines creeping closer and closer. It seems that one area of my machine would be fixed and then something else happens. Right when I seem to need it the most.

As I walked in the store, dragging my machine behind me, one of the ladies that works there said, "Well, at least you're still smiling."

Ummm, yes, I was smiling and at the same time thinking that looks can be deceiving. Can I honestly say that's the way I felt at that particular moment or that afternoon as I watched my machine turn off again? No, not really.

But when I'm at a total loss as what to do and not particularly liking the situation I am in, I know there is Someone to whom I can turn. Someone to whom I can pour out my thoughts, feelings and frustrations when everything seems to be going wrong. Someone to whom I can trust every single day even when I'm feeling overwhelmed with everything that is happening.

Taped to my computer screen is this little saying that reads, "Don't worry about tomorrow...God is already there!" He is! He created me and loves me! He's allowing these situations in my life to cause me to lean and depend on Him more and more.


When things like this happen that I have no control over, I have no choice but to fully rely on Him. Continually praying and asking Him to help me take one day at a time and quit worrying over tomorrow, the next day or next week. How privileged I am to have a great God who is in control of everything!!

Wonderful, Wacky, Wild Weekend (Ok, not too wild or wacky, but certainly wonderful!)

Ahhh....what could be better than a weekend spent with everyone home?! I've been totally excited (Dad has as well!) about Jena and Krissa coming home for a few days!

It all started with Jena driving home from OK City Thursday night. She worked Thursday, texted me during the day saying she might drive home after work. Uh, yeah. Work 12 hours, drive home to her apartment and then drive home to Kansas which is 5 hours?! Sure.

That's exactly what she did! She called around 9:30, said she was leaving and to leave the door unlocked and she would be home around 3:00. Thankfully she made it safely and about 3:15, I heard her come downstairs.

Krissa and one of her friends drove from Kentucky on Friday. They left at 4 am that morning and by the time they got here around 8:00 that evening, they were exhausted from the 15 hour drive! Such a long drive, but Krissa said they were about two hours from being here and she was itching to be back home!

It's been a while since all three of us have been together and we tend to get a little crazy when we are sleep deprived, exhausted and just excited about chatting and being together. We did a fairly good job at not being overly wacky this weekend, except for one exception.

Friday night, we spent a couple hours piled on the bed chatting and finally decided we better go to bed considering that we were cracking up with laughter at every single little thing that wasn't even funny. Laughing so hard to the crying point; you know, the uncontrollable laughs and giggles which make your eyes water and stomach hurt!

Ahhh.....good times! Fun memories! Moments to treasure! Nothing can take that away! :)

We spent the weekend talking, laughing, watching movies (yep, Andy Griffith Show included - a good funny Barney one!!), church Sunday morning, playing cards, watching football and catching up on all the news from Kansas, Kentucky and Oklahoma!

And now, today, everyone is gone. Back home. Back to work. Back to a quiet house. And together again - sometime soon!

Krissa and I

Typical "Kris talking on the phone" pic

Of course, the weekend included computer time! :)

Jena was trying to duck from this photo, but I managed to catch her with my camera - love this pic! Krissa brought home one of Kentucky's famous carbonated beverages - Ale-8, which are packaged in glass bottles.

We sit around with computers in our laps and Dad just flips open the newspaper! ;)

In one word: crazily busy (Ok, maybe two!)

Yes, that seems to be the defining two words for last week, this week and next week. All I can think of is getting this one thing done I'm working on and then moving onto the next. Crazily. Hectically. Late nightsly (ok, maybe that's not a word, but you get the idea.)

Last week and this week I've spent getting my online class lessons finished up. Since my machine has been seemingly crashing every computer board it runs on, it's been out of my possession for over a month, which has put me behind schedule. So last week was big time catch-up week. Thank goodness for a fabulous Bernina dealer and a loaner machine! Ahhh!

Saturday morning I had planned to attend Erinn's baby shower (friend from church) which I think I was there a total of about 5 minutes. As it turned out, we had a funeral dinner at church which I was asked to help serve, so I was busy with that. But I did get to sneak in on the shower a couple of times.

Kid's Klub has started and it's been a fun time! I know I really haven't posted anything yet on that, but I will once I get a chance. Since we've started a new program right after school with a new time frame, it's taking a while to gather a group of kids. We only had a couple the first few Wednesdays. But praise the Lord for a group of 7 kids last week! Erinn and I were thrilled and excited! Although that's been one more thing to cram into my already crazy week, it's always a fun couple of hours spent at church. And that time spent is of lasting eternal value.

Fall seems to have finally arrived! It's been cold here. Well, it feels cold to me anyway since it's been in the 60's. But we've had some cloudy and windy days which makes it seem even colder. Plus Dad started the fireplace last week, so that really makes it feel like winter. I guess capri and flip flop wearing weather is over....*sigh*

As for this week! Exciting news! Jena and Krissa are coming home for the weekend! Whoohoo!!! I'm excited!!! Krissa hasn't been home since March and it's always more of a challenge for her to come home since she's 15 hours away, but that's the plan. It will be fun to have a little more excitement in our house for a couple of days.

Although there are days that Scamper and Skittles have enough energy during the day and night to cause ALL kinds of excitement. The unwanted and frustrating kind. ;) Do you know what it's like having a cat trying to catch a fly at night, on the ceiling, right above your bed? Not pleasant!

But since my sisters are coming home, that means I probably should clean the schoolroom so there is more than just a one foot path to walk though all my SS and Kid's Klub stuff. And I'm sure they would like a room to sleep in, so that means moving my stuff off the bed. And in addition to that, it would be much easier to navigate downstairs without boxes at the bottom of the stairs, thread strewn all over the floor and the chaos of last week still evident.

They don't ask for much, huh? However, I'll gladly comply to have them home for a weekend!

24/7: My computer is always on and working!

Anyone who knows me has knowledge of my complete dependency on computers. Yes, I am rarely without one. In fact most of the time, I'm working on more than one; I've even been seen with up to four in front of me. But that isn't the point of this post. Most of you already know that.

My Dad for sure knows that. He sees me sitting at a desk in front of a computer just about every time he comes downstairs. Or sees me carrying around my laptop upstairs from the kitchen to the family room to the schoolroom. But that is not the true point of this post either.

The main fact here is that Dad knows how invaluable computers are to me, so nothing should really surprise him in that area. But I guess that's exactly what I did.

We were discussing how long it took to upload my class lessons every month and because this last one I taped was so long, how long it would take, etc, etc. So I told him that I have to start it, let it upload for a couple hours, check on it, start another, etc.

THEN, I proceeded to tell him how the best time to do it is at night. So I would start one when I went to bed about midnight. Then set my phone for 3 am, get up and check on it. If it isn't finished, I would set my phone and check it every hour until it was finished and then start the next one, etc, etc.

Well, after I said THAT, he looks at me with this unbelievable face and starts laughing. Well, chucking. Dad isn't one to really laugh (unlike us girls; I'm not sure where we got that from).

What's so funny or surprising about that? I've been getting up in the middle of the night to check my computer for months. Just like he gets up in the middle of the night to check on cows getting ready to calve. Only mine is much easier; I don't have to go out in freezing cold weather to check on my job-related, necessary uploading.

I guess I did surprise him with that bit of information. Maybe I'll just keep more details like that to myself in the future. :)