The Half-Way Point

I decided that I needed to have a blog entry that made me responsible and accountable for my activities recently.  This is the blog entry.

Today is Tuesday, and according to a lovely website: What Week Is It? I was able to determine it is the 26th week of the year.  That means we are at the half-way point of the year.  Am I even close to my goals?

I had hoped to read 52 books this year.  After finishing the second collection of the Appomattox Saga last night, I have completed 22 books to date.  The 3 collection has four more (the final four) of the saga, and if I complete them all I will be at the appropriate number of books for the 26th week.  I truly doubt I will accomplish this feat, but at least I am hopeful.

The Ladybugs are currently learning about two creatures that fly: Butterflies and Bats.  We visited The Bat Zone at Cranbrook over the weekend (our second time there), and the ladies were able to view a variety of bats.  Zoe desperately wants to install a bat house, and Uncle Joe said he would help us achieve this.  I absolutely LOVE science, and along with the creatures that fly I have been continuing our quest to learn all we can about dinosaurs.  Zoe even did a dinosaur dig last week!

The Ladybugs also checked out books on bats and butterflies from the local library.  We read all summer as well.  I like to choose fiction and non-fiction books that correlate with the subject matter we are studying.  I found a few really awesome bat books and one really awesome butterfly non-fiction book.

 

We also incorporated the 150 anniversary of the Civil War with the reading of  the Magic Tree House: Civil War on Sunday.  Zoe was very interested in why people go to war.  As a pacifist, I tried to explain that people go to war for many different reasons, but mostly it is out of selfish reasons they go.  Honestly, I had a hard time with that one.

I am hoping to take the Ladybugs to the Zoo sometime soon to visit the butterfly house and the dinosaur exhibit.  We are very blessed to have a plethora of local museums and exhibits that enrich the summer tremendously.

I hope you all have a blessed day!

Just As I Am

A few days ago, while rummaging through old books to donate, I came across a book with an old bookmark of mine.  There was a piano on the top, which means most likely it was a gift from my Grandma Brown.  She always gets theme items when you like something.

Anyway, there was JUST AS I AM on the bookmark.  It was a lovely discovery and now is holding a page in the Appomattox Saga Book 2.

Just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot, to thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, though tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt, fightings and fears within, without, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind; sight, riches, healing of the mind, yea, all I need in thee to find, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, thou wilt receive, wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve; because thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, thy love unknown hath broken every barrier down; now, to be thine, yea thine alone, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Gloom & Doom

Awhile back I posted a blog titled, "Witnesses Don't Like the Catholics."  Since then I have seen Bonnie only a couple times to receive the newest Witness publications.  One thing rings true for most of the articles: Gloom and Doom.

And I'm really not saying they are a faith based on gloom and doom.  What I am saying is that in order to preach about the "truth," the publications illustrate all the "hell" going on in our current world.

For instance, in the June 1, 2011 Watchtower, the cover says, "END of POVERTY How?"  Upon entering the magazine, the articles in the issue are as follows: "What is Extreme Poverty Like?", "Efforts to End Poverty", "Good News for the Poor", "Is There Hope for the Dead?", and "Have You Ever Felt Like An Outsider?"  It humbly ends with an article called, "Will Humans Ruin This Earth?"

The June 2011 issue of Awake! also has a laundry list of hellish stuff.  The cover says, "Terrorism: Why does it happen? Why will it end?"  Articles on the subject include: "Will I Wanted Was To Get My Mail", "Why Some Resort to Violence", and "Is a World Without Terrorism Possible?"

I just don't understand how people can be persuaded by gloom and doom.  No, I'm not insinuating that God is a "feel good" God.  But I feel that this gloom and doom gets really old.  In the end, the same thing is told: Believe in Jehovah and you will get to see a New Earth without these horrible problems.

I am much more touched by personal stories from people who found Jehovah and the Witnesses after choosing a different life.  Sometimes the stories are a bit far-fetched, but honestly they are more powerful then a horrific picture depicting a man driving from getting his mail to see a fire-scape in his rear-view mirror.  Or the picture of the man in a vest that is wired to a bomb so he can suicide bomb a location.  Really?  I know this works for some, but after 2 years of getting these publications I only see the same gloom and doom illustrated over and over ad nauseum.

Bonnie stopped over again on Thursday.  She said that 2 Corinthians 4 was very life-changing for her.  Here is the chapter from the NIV:

Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 

Bonnie implied that the god of this age is Satan, and that he puts a veil over our eyes to the truth.  She implied that may desire to continue celebrating holidays, and other non-truth events I am just covering my eyes with a veil to the truth.  Satan, in her opinion, is a god because it he wasn't how would he be able to control people as he does?  Anyway, he also "has the whole world in his hands" according to Bonnie.  Interesting viewpoint.

She will talk of this beautiful place  - a rebirth of the Earth.  A paradise Earth that those that truly believe will live forever.  However, just like I've said before...a paradise Earth would not be so if I didn't have my friends and family with me.  Just like heaven wouldn't be all that spectacular if I was amongst strangers.

Each Day is Our Father's Day

Today I gave the message (sermon) at church.  I also had to organize the service, choose the hymns, write and read numerous prayers, and choose the readings for the liturgist.  Some of my friends have asked for a transcript of today's message.  I will post below what I basically said/sang.  I sung the last song, in case you were wondering. 

Every Day is Our Father’s Day

On July 5th, 1908 in Fairmont, West Virginia, the first Father’s Day was celebrated.  It was organized by Mrs. Grace Golden Clayton, who wanted to celebrate the lives of the 210 fathers who had been lost in the Monongah Mining disaster.  This horrible event took place several months earlier in Monongah, West Virginia, on December 6, 1907.  However, West Virginia never officially registered the holiday, so the yearly celebration was shelved for the near future.  

A few times the holiday made an attempted resurrection, but on each occasion it was overshadowed by other more important matters.  However, in 1972 then President Richard Nixon signed the day into law making it a permanent Holiday on our United States calendar.  Once a year, on the 3rd Sunday of June, we take time our of our busy lives to honor the MAN (or men) who have made our lives different; men who we call FATHER.  

In my research on Father’s Day, I came across a variety of ways different countries celebrate their fathers.  I must say though, Germany had the most colorful traditions of them all.

In Germany Father's Day, or as they say, Vatertag, is always celebrated on Ascension Day (which is the Thursday forty days after Easter).  Ascension Day is a federal holiday, therefore, places of business close down. Regionally, it is also called men's day, Männertag, or gentlemen's day, Herrentag. It is tradition, especially in the north and east of the country, for groups of males (young and old) to do a hiking tour.  They use manpower to pull along one or more smaller wagons, called Bollerwagen. In these wagons are wine or beer (according to region) and traditional regional food.  From what I read many men use this holiday as an opportunity to get inebriated.   I suppose many would find that a great way to spend the day!

The word FATHER appears approximately 1500 times in the Bible, less or more depending on the version used.  And no, I didn’t come up with this number from our collection of Bibles.  I will let you in on a secret: you can get the information on the Internet.  And in many cases, the 1500 word usage of FATHER is written about Our Heavenly Creator: God.

Today we celebrate Father’s Day.  But isn’t EVERY day OUR HEAVENLY FATHER’S day?

What are your priorities?  Are you like most that let the “stuff” take over?  Do you fill your life with a bunch of beans like I illustrated to the children earlier?  Not having enough room to “fit” God in?  Or do you put God at the center of your life, then filling the spaces with the stuff?

During the month of May, I participated in an online social community with other Christian women.  We spent the month reading and sharing our journey through the book, “31 Days to Clean, Having a Martha Home the Mary Way,” by Sarah Mae.  Sarah Mae uses the familiar story from Luke as a basis for doing “spring cleaning.”  Each day the participants had a Martha task: which was some kind of deep cleaning around the home; and a Mary task: which was an exercise in spiritual cleaning.  

The story of Jesus’s visit to the home of Martha and Mary has always intrigued me.  Martha was so busy worrying about how her home looked and how the food was prepared, which is where I most often find myself.  However, Mary was engaged with her guest.  So much so, that when Martha found Mary she was engrossed in Jesus’s stories, sitting next to him at his feet.  Mary was concerned about the guest and not what was for dinner.  The Bible tells us that it is Mary whom we should model our lives after- allowing God into our homes and hearts no matter how “messy” they are.

I am a blogger.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with what a blogger is I will explain it as such: a blogger is someone that enjoys writing and/or journaling on the Internet for others to read. So each day during the month of May, I blogged (or wrote) my progress of each Martha and Mary task along with other women in the Christian social online community.  We read each other’s journey, and encouraged each other along.  Many left the daily challenges behind because they were too time consuming.  But I stuck it out.  And at the end of the 31 days, my home was much cleaner and (believe it or not) even more organized than before.

However, the Mary tasks were not so simple, and I don’t know if I will ever truly be able to say they are complete.  

The hardest task for me was on Day 5.  We were asked to list our priorities (from #1 to #5 or 6).  I’m sure you can guess items on my list: Jim, the girls, my job.  But what I had the hardest time deciding was what should I list as my #1?  My marriage?  My children?  What was the “correct” answer?

Of course, I knew the answer: God.  After all, putting God first is what the Bible tells us to do.   If we put God first and at the center of everything we do, all the other “stuff” should fall into place.  But is it that simple and easy?  I do not think so.

Today’s Old Testament reading was from the first chapter of Genesis.  We only heard a small portion of the creation story, but I’m sure we could all (including the children) tell you what came next.  But just because we can regurgitate scripture ad nauseum, does that mean we are fully understanding what is written at the very beginning of our sacred book?  God created everything.  EVERYTHING.  EVERYTHING out of NOTHING!

When we celebrate holidays such as Father’s Day or Mother’s Day or Grandparent’s Day, we spend most of our time focused on our Earthly families.  Those who raised us, or helped raise us.  There was a poem I ran across the other day, illustrating what a father is:

Mender of toys, leader of boys,
Changer of fuses, kisser of bruises,
Bless him, O Lord.

Mover of couches, soother of ouches,
Pounder of nails, teller of tales,
Reward him, O Lord.

Hanger of screens, counselor of teens,
Fixer of bikes, chastiser of tykes,
Help him, O Lord.

Raker of leaves, cleaner of eaves,
Dryer of dishes, fulfiller of wishes,
Bless him, O Lord.

There always seems to be a stronger emphasis placed on the importance of Mother’s Day.  Maybe it is because Father’s Day was created after Mother’s Day was officially a holiday, kind of like a afterthought.  Or maybe it is because Father’s Day cards and gifts tend to be humorous or silly (you know...the proverbial tie, or the set of golf balls, …) and Mother’s Day cards and gifts tend to be warm and sentimental (you know...flowers, or dinner at at fancy restaurant).  I also suppose that something must be said about Father’s Day falling in the summer.  Unless your child’s teacher has them make a Father’s Day gift or card before school is out, the child does not always have something for their Dad.  

There is a story that goes:
Brad was out late with friends one night. Suddenly, he realized it was Father's Day and he had neglected to buy a card for his dad. After much searching, Brad located an open store, but was disappointed to find only two cards left on the rack. Selecting one, he brought it home and presented it to his father when he woke the next morning.  Upon opening it, his dad read the message: "YOU’VE BEEN LIKE A FATHER TO ME!" He looked at Brad, puzzled. "Well, Dad," Brad tried to explain, "it was either that or the card that said, 'NOW THAT I’M A FATHER TOO!’”

I am curious how much time we Christians (who call God our Father) spend honoring our Father and Creator.   Now, I realize, that God cannot accept physical gifts (like ties and golf balls), but by taking care of the Earth and those that inhabit it, we are honoring our Father’s creation.  By putting Him center in our lives, truly making him our FIRST priority we are honoring him.  

I am reminded of a scripture passage from Psalm 24:

“The earth is the Lord's and everything in it; the world and all who live in it, for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters."

God created the World.  God owns It.  God still owns it.  We are simply managers of His creation.  Of course it is human nature to think He gave the Earth to us humans.  But there is nothing in the Bible to say we “OWN” the Earth.  We are simply its stewards - put here to make sure it thrives and grows.  However, as selfish as humans can be; we must understand that God owns everything on this Earth, not us.  Yes, friends he owns the people, the animals, the person who hurt your feelings, the punk that shot up a convenience store, the dump down the street, the ghetto filled with crime and corruption.  All of us, and Everything on this Earth.  We are all HIS.

Sometimes it is hard to imagine that God is the parent of those we do not like, and those that seem so evil in nature.  Jesus told us to love one another, but He especially meant those who seem to be unlovable.  

Jesus called his Father, Abba, which is kind of like a child calling their father, Daddy.  In this simple word, Abba, we see the intimate relationship Jesus had with his father.  Jesus made this great being somehow human and personal.  I believe that we should strive to have that kind of relationship with our Creator as well.

As a parent, there are days that I get so angry with my girls.  I scream.  I holler.  I cry.  Some days it is so hard to love them.  And yet, I do...unconditionally.  I am sure all the Mother’s and Father’s out there completely empathize with what I am going through.  But have you ever stopped to wonder if God has days like that too.  I imagine He looks down and just grieves over what many of his Earthly stewards have done to His creation.  

We are all God’s children.  He wants us to come to Him.  His door is always open.  Open for us to live in harmony with his creation.  But how many of His children actually listen to Him, obey Him, serve Him, can truly call him “Abba”?

The song, “Welcome To My World,” albeit a classic county tune, is one of my all time favorites that includes Biblical scripture.  We sang it in my Kindergarten class (which was a Dearborn PUBLIC school if you were wondering), while Miss Wetmore played it on the piano.  In case you were wondering: Miss Wetmore is one of my inspirations, and I still sing songs taught in that class now some 30 years later.  

However, it took reading the Bible a few years back, that I realized words from the song were actual scripture passages found in Matthew 7:7 and Luke 11:9.  Knowing this has given completely new meaning of the song to me.

Welcome to my world
Won't you come on in
Miracles I guess
Still happen now and then
Step into my heart
Leave your cares behind
Welcome to my world
Built with you in mind
Knock and the door will open
Seek and you will find
Ask and you'll be given
The key to this world of mine
I'll be waiting here
With my arms unfurled
Waiting just for you
Welcome to my world
AMEN

This bird has flown...

And when I awoke
I was alone,
this bird had flown. 

This week the baby robins grew really big and then flew away.  Such a bitter sweet moment for me.  I became so attached to this family.  The father bird came back yesterday and talked to me for awhile. 

Here are some pics:

Baby robins crying for more food.  They were so cute this day!

Here is the daddy!

One little one that was first to leave the nest.  He let me get so close.

The last day all the babies were together (Wednesday).  Yesterday they were gone.

The Sheep and The Goats

This Sunday, Father's Day, I will be giving a message at my church.  The music minister and I will be doing a version of Keith Green's "The Sheep and the Goats."

I had never heard of this dramatic reading before.  However, after listening to a recording on YouTube I was immediately moved to tears.  I certainly hope I am able to do the same for others this coming Sunday.

In case you are wondering what the reading is all about:

Nature all Around Us

This spring has been very busy for the Martin Ladybugs.  One of the busiest areas in and around our home has been watching our ever-changing indoor and outdoor critters.  I really enjoy the beauty of God's creatures all around us, and sharing it with the Ladybugs makes me appreciate the Earth even more!

A robin family has blessed us with two sets of eggs this spring.  The Ladybugs and I have been able to get pretty close to the nest (for the second set of babies) and feed the mommy and daddy robin's bread, worms, and grubs.  The birds seem to really trust us, and I was VERY privileged to get two pictures a few days ago.

A bunny family has a warren near by, but they tend to enjoy hanging in our backyard.  I think it is because we have a variety of green vegetation to eat.

The ladybugs have also taken on the task of a fish tank, given to them by dear friends of ours.  "Uncle" Jorge and "Aunt" Jill gave their fish tank to the Ladybugs, because they are moving to Florida in another month and will not take the fish with them.  Yes, we have two large tanks in the basement that house a variety of fish and aquatic frogs.  However, this tank is the girl's responsibility.  We shall see how well it goes.

I have a jar/container of caterpillars coming this week (hopefully).  That will be another location to watch the wonderful changing life-cycles of God's creatures.

As with all life-cycles, creatures are born, change, and eventually die.  Yesterday there we 3 dead baby robins on our driveway.  At first I was crushed - thinking they were from our "adopted" robin family.  However, Jim determined that another robin family built their nest on the top of our roof.  It rained hard yesterday, and thus the nest was moved from its place.  The Ladybugs saw the three baby birds, and we had a great discussion of how sometimes creatures are able to make it "full-circle".  Zoe seemed to be very interested in continuing the conversation on the way to her dance recital rehearsal.

With the butterflies soon to be cultivated in our home, I am glad we had a preview of baby death.  The ladybugs have been able to view fish deaths, and other backyard critters (birds, squirrels, etc.), but all of those have been "older" more "mature" creatures.  There is such awe to the idea God could let a baby die.  But the truth is: no matter why a baby dies, it cannot be ignored that it is a possibility.  Life is fragile, and yesterday Zoe had a very good lesson in how fragile it is.

On the other hand, Evie wanted to play with the dead baby birds (NO!  We did not let her touch them!).  Not quite sure what she thought would come of that, but she seemed to want to have them as toys.  It should be quite interesting how she views the caterpillar/butterfly life-cycle.  Evie always brings a strange sense of humor to every and all aspect of my life.

I said, "hello!"  And he looked right at me!

1..2..3..4...Baby Birds!

One of the many rabbits that are enjoying our backyard "delicacies."

This guy (or girl) let me take quite a few pictures, and seemed to enjoy it!

The Ladybugs and their new fish!

Shades of Gray

Have you missed me?

I just finished going through the "labels" I have placed on each blog entry.  I am doing my best to streamline this blog.  I also gave it a new look....hopefully getting representing my blog style and attitude.  I am now on my own to determine what blog topics would be interesting...now that I have completed 31 Days to Clean.  I plan on continuing the "beyond" projects, but I will also be doing a other types of blogs entries.  We'll see how that goes.

This is the last week of school for the ladybugs.  I now have a 2nd year preschooler and a 1st grader!  Hard to believe the time has flown by.  Yesterday I had the end-of-school conference with Evie's preschool teacher.  Evie is doing quite well academically (she would be ready for Kindergarten in the fall if she was old enough), and her maturity is far beyond Zoe's at her age.  Problem: she sees everyone and everything in BLACK & WHITE.  You are EVIL or GOOD, RIGHT or WRONG, etc.  With Evie there is no gray.  No matter what the circumstance or the people involved, she will decide which side you are on.  And all of these decisions are split-second: immediate.

I got to thinking...what kind of a person am I?  And the more I thought about people the less I felt anything strong enough to suggest I saw life as black and white.  I am definitely living in shades of gray.  I admire many, but only give my time, love and attention to very few.  However, I also have a very difficult time believing there are truly evil people in this world.  And if there are, I pity them.  See how gray I am?

Speaking of gray...I am on a Civil War kick lately (you know, the good 'ol blue and gray?).  I am currently reading all books about the war and finding all information welcomed.  I'm sure I'll be blogging more about the War Between the States during these warm summer months.  Hope that keeps my readers coming back for more!

Day #32 and Beyond {31 Days to Clean}

A Welcomed Addition to the Dining Room

As noted in the video from last weekend, I mentioned that getting rid of our wine rack was a future blog post.  Well readers, here it is!

The first item Jim and I ever bought together (almost 10 years now), was a wine rack.  At the time we lived in an apartment, and entertained often.  We also were both working full-time and had a large disposable income.  We loved wine, and thus purchased a wine rack that would suit our fancy.  Here is a recent picture:

Believe it, or not, we once had every space in the rack filled with wine!  Crazy, I know!  Hard to believe so much has changed in 10 years...but it has.

The table used to be a focal point of our living room, but since having the children it was where I put pictures or nicknacks.  It also moved from the living room to a corner of the dining room.  When Zoe started to crawl, all wine bottles were removed.  Which, if memory serves me right, came to about 3 bottles.

In the last couple of years the table has been bugging me.  But I since I used it for picture frames, I didn't want to get rid of it completely.  Now that the ladybugs are older, we could use it for wine.  Problem?  Well, wine now makes me have horrible headaches and bloats me.  Oh well.

My in-laws are in the process of completely redoing the main level of their home.  On Easter we discussed the items that they were going to sell on Craigslist or give away to their daughter (Jim has one sister).  I asked what they were going to do with the dry sink, and they said that it was the most expensive piece of furniture they were selling.  My mother-in-law said I could have it for part of my Christmas gift, and I agreed.

A few days later, my mother-in-law called me and said that my father-in-law wanted to just give me the dry sink, since their daughter was getting so many other items.  I believe I literally jumped for joy.

Yesterday, Jim picked up the dry sink and we put the wine rack in the attic (I don't plan on selling it anytime soon).  Here are pictures of the dry sink after the exchange.

Check out the HUGE storage area for my crafting/sewing!

This morning I rearranged the photos on it, but I am so thrilled at the exchange!  It really adds class to the room; and it also gives me a ton of storage for items that I didn't know where to put.

Have a lovely weekend all!