Archive for June, 2008
June 27, 2008 @ 4:53 pm | Filed under: Family,Pure Sunshine
A smile is worth a million dreams,
And laughter a thousand heartbeats
Lifting the spirits and chasing the blues away
With every smile a chance to open doors to laughter
An elevator ride up through the clouds
Where dreams can come true
and heartbeats erase the blues.
–JoJo Bean
aunts, Family, laughter, nieces
June 26, 2008 @ 2:45 pm | Filed under: Uniquely Me
How many zeros in a billion ?
The next time you hear a politician use the word ‘billion’ in a casual manner, think about whether you want the politicians spending YOUR tax money.
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of it’s releases.
A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth.
E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.
While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let’s take a look at New Orleans . It’s amazing what you can learn with some simple division.
Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D) is presently asking Congress for 250 BILLION DOLLARS to rebuild New Orleans . Interesting number… what does it mean?
A. Well… if you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, and child) you each get $516,528.
B. Or… if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.
C. Or… if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012.
In the meantime, this is our reality:
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing Lic ense T ax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Fe dermal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Tax
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.
We had absolutely no national debt…
We had the largest middle class in the world…
and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
June 22, 2008 @ 12:55 pm | Filed under: 5 Minutes for Mom,Motherhood,Uniquely Me
I posted over at Faith Lifts today…
devotions, Motherhood, parenting
June 21, 2008 @ 5:39 pm | Filed under: Family,Pure Sunshine
The kids at Carter’s Kindergarten graduation. Notice who scored the cap afterwards…!
Congratulations, Carter! Pops and Nana are so proud of you!
Family, grandchildren, kindergarten graduation
June 20, 2008 @ 10:08 am | Filed under: 5 Minutes for Mom,Motherhood,The Writing Life
I am very excited and honored to be working with the wonderful women and moms at 5 Minutes for Mom. It’s phenomenal to have a place where we women can come together in our faith and in our calling as moms – both in the home and in the workplace – and know that we have a sisterhood that ‘has our back.’
I’m posting today over at The Sampler, which is a weekly column of 5 Minutes for Mom that brings you exclusive samplings from the some of the best mom blogs. For weekly encouragement, please check them out regularly. I promise you’ll be blessed!
5 Minutes for Mom, Add new tag, encouragement, mom blogs
June 19, 2008 @ 2:15 pm | Filed under: Soul Food
WHEN I SAY I AM A CHRISTIAN
“A woman’s heart should be so hidden in Christ
that a man should have to seek Him first to find her.”
When I say… “I am a Christian” I’m not shouting “I’m clean living.’”
I’m whispering “I was lost, Now I’m found and forgiven.”
When I say… “I am a Christian” I don’t speak of this with pride.
I’m confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.
When I say… “I am a Christian” I’m not trying to be strong.
I’m professing that I’m weak and need His strength to carry on.
When I say… “I am a Christian” I’m not bragging of success.
I’m admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess.
When I say… “I am a Christian” I’m not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible but, God believes I am worth it.
When I say… “I am a Christian” I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name.
When I say… “I am a Christian” I’m not holier than thou.
I’m just a simple sinner Who received God’s good grace, somehow!
– Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou, poetry, When I Say I am a Christian
June 16, 2008 @ 4:24 pm | Filed under: School Stuff,Uniquely Me
“Mathematics is not a careful march down a well-cleared highway, but a journey into a strange wilderness, where the explorers often get lost.” —W.S. Anglin
(this post was written in 2006, right after my return to college)
THANK. YOU.
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
For me math is, at best, a grand test of patience, endurance, and that gnarly feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you know (you just…know) that things are about to get very, very bad.
Math and I go way back. All the way back to first grade, in fact.
The relationship started off well, with grainy, purple-ish mimeographed pages (remember these predecessors of color copies and laser-printed sheets?) of neatly printed addition and subtraction problems.
“Staci, meet the plus sign. Plus would like to add two apples to your pile of four oranges. How many pieces of fruit do you have now?”
As long as I could equate math with fruit or cookies, or even pencils or pennies, it was all good. Dare I say, even a tad bit…fun?
It all began to go awry mid-semester of my freshman year in high school. One word says it all, seven little letters. A-L-G-E-B-R-A.
I went into the class a little cocky (because I’d never had to work very hard to make good grades before) and more than a little naive (who knew that polynomials and variables could BE so obstinate?)
By the time I’d managed to crawl through Algebra I by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin, I walked into Mrs. Payne’s sophomore geometry class with my tail tucked between my legs.
I was cautiously hopeful that isosceles triangles and terms like area, volume, and perimeter would be kinder and gentler in nature – but I was not holding my breath.
Good thing.
It became a joke in the class that I would treat myself to a banana split at Braums if somehow – by the grace of God or osmosis or whatever worked – I managed to pass the increasingly difficult tests.
Mrs. Payne had the very annoying habit of reading the test grades aloud before handing them back. As if the humilation of a failing grade wasn’t enough on its own, now we had the added bonus of wanting to crawl beneath our desks whenever our name was called.
“Rogers,” she would peer over her half-rimmed, silver reading glasses and make direct eye contact.
With bated breath, I would wait like a defendant on trial to hear my fate.
“Looks like you’re going to Braums today,” she’d nod and give me the barest of grins. “You got a C.”
I still remember the cheers of my classmates and that afternoon, about four o’clock, found a large group of my friends and fellow geometry cellmates clustered around a white Formica table at our local neighborhood Braums.
Some things in life just need to be celebrated, you know?
When (NOT if) I manage to bag the three credit hours of college Algebra that I need in my degree plan, I will celebrate large!
Anybody want in?
UPDATE: June 2008
I sat across from my advisor a few weeks ago and waited impatiently as he perused my transcript, clicked his mouse a few times, rechecked a file, and then – finally – looked at me.
“Did you know-” he paused and – truly – spoke to me as though his gentle tone would somehow soften his news. “-that you have only science and math courses left to take?”
Of course, he meant before I could transfer full-time to the four-year campus.
“Yes.” I nodded and straightened in my seat. “I did know that.”
He glanced down at his screen again and I could see he tried to hide a grin. “I mean…that’s all.”
“Yes, I’m aware of that.” My words were kind and ladylike but in my mind I was coming across the desk, making a beeline for his scrawny neck and saying really mean things like Do you know that I’m twice your age and I could very well make your very existence nothing but miserable from this point on?
The truth of the matter is, though, that it is rather funny.
In an effort to make my return to college a tad less frightening and a lot more exciting, I spent the first several semesters taking courses that I enjoyed and…aced. And – at long last – I can no longer put off the inevitable.
I must face math and face my fear.
I am in my second week of my first summer math course and am ecstatic to report that there have no casualties, no bad words thought, no equation I could not conquer.
(Continue in prayer, please. More math reports will follow in the coming weeks.)
June 15, 2008 @ 1:35 pm | Filed under: Family,Pure Sunshine
God took the strength of a mountain,
The majesty of a tree,
The warmth of a summer sun,
The calm of a quiet sea,
The generous soul of nature,
The comforting arm of night,
The wisdom of the ages,
The power of the eagle’s flight,
The joy of a morning in spring,
The faith of a mustard seed,
The patience of eternity,
The depth of a family need,
Then God combined these qualities,
When there was nothing more to add,
He knew His masterpiece was complete,
And so, He called it … Dad
Family, Father's day poem, grandchildren
June 8, 2008 @ 6:48 am | Filed under: Motherhood,Soul Food,The Writing Life
Every once in a while a door of opportunity will swing open wide, and we know for certain that it is God who is bidding us to walk through it.
This is what happened to me when Faith Lifts invited me to be one of their devotional contributors a couple of weeks ago. The people that I’ve met so far – Shera and the other writers – are nothing short of warm and welcoming. Already I feel at home, and very excited about this very special place!
As a writer, this is an opportunity to share bits and pieces of what God lays on my heart. As a mom, this is a place to find needed encouragement and strength. But – maybe most importantly – as a woman, Faith Lifts is a place where godly women are endeavoring to hear His voice and allowing Him to direct their lives and the lives of their families.
My first devotion with Faith Lifts is up today. If you find time to check it out, please linger a bit longer and read the words of wisdom and encouragement that other Faith Lifts writers have on their hearts.
I promise you’ll leave uplifted!
June 2, 2008 @ 1:24 pm | Filed under: Soul Food,The Solid Rock,Uniquely Me
When I was raising my boys, one nightly tradition was spending the last few minutes of each day reading to them. One of their favorite stories, and still one of mine, was If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.
If you give a mouse a cookie, he’ll probably ask for a glass of milk. If you give him a glass of milk, he’ll probably ask for a straw. If you give him a straw, he’ll most likely need a napkin.
On and on the story goes, taking the mouse through various household chores and activities until finally – spent and exhausted – the mouse takes a nap. When he wakes from the nap – sure enough – he’s hungry and…you got it…he asks for a cookie.
Some days are like that, one activity begatting the next, and so on and so on and so on.
I had a day like that a couple of weeks ago.
I had been looking forward all that week to sleeping in on Saturday, whatever that means for me. Lately I’ve been running on about five or six hours of sleep each night and – after a long and tiring week – I thought the idea of sleeping until 7:30 or eight sounded really good.
Instead I woke at around 5:30 and lay there, wide awake, until I finally eased from the bed and made my way through the sleeping house to the living room. Something deep within me was stirring, something that made me acutely aware of just what a blessed day it was.
The week had been long, it had been tiring, but I’d not only made it through, I’d made it through with the deep-seated knowledge that God was directing my footsteps and my actions; easing me slowly but surely through the long list of to-do’s and must-do’s until all the projects, all my work, and all the kid drama – everything was not only done, but done well.
I sat with my coffee and spent quiet time with Him – so thankful, so grateful, for His mercy and strength. The quietness and solitude of the room around me seemed to reflect the quietness of my spirit and it all felt so good.
At the tail end of a week where I’d spent energy like money and had run the gamut of emotions in dealing with life’s craziness I simply sat in my living room and reveled in the secure certainty that I am a God’s girl.
At the end of my quiet time I attempted to go online, only to find that our internet was down. And that’s when the if you give the girl her God type of a day really began. Feeling energized and close to Him, I prepared a full, nutritious breakfast.
Well-fed and feeling healthy, I went for my run. I felt so good after two and a half miles that I ran for four.
As I walked the last block home, I found myself studying all the neighbors’ yards, realizing that my schedule had not allowed me the flexibility to spend any amount of time on my own flower beds.
I saw Mike out with the lawn mower as I walked the last few steps to our house, and that clinched it for me. Already sweaty and slighty grubby from my run (even the tip of my pony tail was dripping) I decided to stay in my running skirt and get busy in the dirt.
And the day was officially started…
One by one, each activity seemed to only prompt the next. I spent hour after hour taking care of the things around the house that I’d let fall by the wayside in the full-on sprint that always comes at the end of another school year. When the day turned to night, I collapsed in the same spot as I’d spent my quiet time that morning. Somewhat tired again, but fulfilled.
Again I was quiet and reflective. Again I was filled with thankfulness for His care of me. Again I was very much aware of His mercy at work in my life.
On my own I am so weak. On my own I falter and question and – sometimes – whine.
On my own, I am just a woman. ONE woman.
I can only give so much as a friend. I can only instruct so much as a mother. I can only succeed so much as a student and as a writer.
I can only do so much.
But with Him…with Him all things are possible.
I may very well be a woman on the cusp of her midlife years.
But I very much feel like a little girl running into the arms of her God.
If you give a girl her God, she can do most anything.
