Keyboard Update

Currently the keyboard that I spilled Coke on is drying. We put it through a rinse cycle in the dishwasher and have it propped up near one of the heating vents in the house to help the drying process along.



The report on its condition is this: The keys are working! They are no longer sticky! I'm waiting at least another day before I plug it in and see how it works. I have to make sure it is completely dry before I fire her up.

I Am a Sinner and a Saint

Katie makes me out to be much more than I am. I am so faulted it's pathetic. Here's a self-assessment of some of my faults, I...



- am very impatient. VERY!

- can be way too critical of others

- am stubborn (my staff informed me of this today as a matter of fact! LOL)

- hate putting my laundry away and have a problem with piling my clothes on my dresser.

- don't pray enough

- eat out too often

- am addicted to the internet and Battlefield 1942 online.

- can be easily irritated at the constant chaos of children in the house.

- spill Coke on keyboards

- am often too quick to anger when simple things do not work right, or I can't find something (like a remote control).

- hate going to the doctor (I have to be in immense pain or feel death coming on)

- worry too much about finances

- panic if I am invited to someone's house for dinner (because of my eating disorder...which is simply the fact that I am a very picky eater and that's a whole other post.)

- am terrible about sending out greeting cards on appropriate holidays/birthdays.

- have a very low tolerance for stupidity (which is so not Christlike!)

- form opinions about people according to the condition of their teeth.

- have rebellious tendencies

- PRIDE - I have a MAJOR pride problem!



There's a lot more wrong with me, but it is nice that Katie is able to "forgive" all the faults and manage to see a bit of Christ in me. That right there is yet another miracle God performs in me daily!



I am a sinner. I am a saint only through Christ.

I Hate Blinds!

I went through ALOOOTTTT of trouble replacing old blinds in the livingroom window because the ones hanging there were broken. Well, the ones that replaced them just broke. They are really wide and we have support brackets across the middle to keep them from breaking. The problem isn't there. The problem is pulling the string to open and close the blinds. I opened them today and the weight of the blinds caused the string pulley area to snap...just like the last set of blinds. I hate blinds! It's time to think of another form of window treatment!

Keyboard in the Dishwasher

While I was blogging the last post, the keyboard began to do some very strange things. At the present moment, I am typing on our old keyboard and the new one is in the dishwasher.......yikes!

What a Way to Start a Day

I just got back from a trip to visit my family last night. Gracey (my car) was riding pretty rough. She needed an oil change and is due for her 80,000 mile tune up. I also took her for a ride down a pretty muddy gravel road and she looked a mess. I woke up this morning to the phone ringing. Sue called from work to tell me that she had taken Gracey and left Jeepers with me today because Gracey was at Firestone getting a tune-up and oil change...then she added "And I'm also getting her cleaned...did you go mudding yesterday or something?" LOL. An 80,000 mile tune up....wow! I was waiting until later on in the year when finances were a little better. She thought it needed to be taken care of now and she took care of it. I have tears in my eyes as I write this. I don't know what I ever did to deserve such a friend. I only know that I see Jesus every day when I look at Sue. He lives in and through her. She doesn't believe it sometimes. She says that she doesn't behave very Christlike sometimes but, neither do I. Even the best Christians often tend to behave very human. But, every day when I walk around this house and drive my car and see the blessings all around me that God has provided through Sue who selflessly sacrifices daily for my family, I can see that He still "walks with me and talks with me" just like he did with Eve in the garden. He just wears a different suit of skin. I see him through many others daily as well but, it is through Sue that I have seen Him more in my life than anybody else and I don't think she will ever realize or could ever know the impact or the difference she has made. I don't think she can imagine the legacy that will be left behind long after we are gone because of the difference she has made in my life and the lives of my children. God has been using her to make a big difference. He had a work to do in us and she was one of His very important carving tools. I praise my God for saving us and for sending us such an awesome gift in sending His Son to die so that I can be saved by His grace. I praise Him for my salvation and for sending me and my children the awesome friend and sister that I have in Sue. I am blessed beyond anything I could ever put into words.



Thank you, Lord.

I Didn't Learn My Lesson

I didn't learn my lesson. I am sitting here with a Coke on the computer desk.

Preaching to the Baptist's in the Back

Church was great today! It was soooooooooo good to be back in fellowship!



The message was on being optimistic. It contained a lot of stuff I needed to hear about looking at situations with optimism. We saw a film clip from the movie "Alive" about the Uruguayan soccer team crashing in the Andes and how those that survived 70 days in the wintry mountains had optimism keeping them going. Paul, our pastor, shared about how Caleb came back to Moses with a spy report and said "we can take that land", but the others advised against it out of fear. Paul said that if we don't look at things optimistically, the outcome isn't very optimistic!



He used an analogy about a bunch of grapes. When you open the fridge to eat some grapes, sometimes in that bunch, there is one grape that looks rather "malignant" he said. I chuckled at that. He asked "what do you do with that bunch of grapes? Do you throw them all away? He said, "no, you remove that malignant grape and throw it away and then enjoy the rest of the grapes." Paul explained that often times we get so fixated on that one tiny malignancy, that we don't enjoy the rest of life.



Paul talked about how we need to learn to be optimistic in the face of many turns in life, including: Challenge, Adversity, Failure, Change and God's Work. It was a great message.



At one point Paul said "hey, I just thought of something...everyone stand up and turn around." So we all obliged and then he went hustling back into the sound booth at the back of the church. It was funny because on his way back up the aisle he said "everybody watch me, oh, I'm in a hurry, I have to go to the bathroom!" LOL Anyway, once he was back in the booth, he started preaching from there! He said, be optimistic about this change...those of you who normally sit in the back are now in the front. HA! This is one way to preach to the Baptist's in the back! and those in the front are now uncomfortable with being in the back." It was an interesting illustration for us today.



It is amazing how God speaks through His people and can use humor to do it! I was laughing a lot during this message today, but it really spoke to me.



There is nothing, absolutely no situation that God can not handle. What appears as a boulder of trouble weighing me down, is a BB bouncing around in the boxcar that God just sent off with all my problems.



The whole point? Don't let what you see control you, let God work.