Prayer requests

It seems as though some days there are a ton of things I could write about, others I simply draw a blank. Today was one of those days when I must be feeling creative (as creative as I can be at 630 in the morning anyway) and I had many options of what to choose from. But I think this time, I will keep it simple and important. This weekend, several things either happened or were brought to my attention again that reminded me of the importance of prayer. Many of you will know who I'm talking about with each of these, but for the privacy of my friends, no names will be mentioned.

Yesterday a girl that I've gone to church with for years had an emergency C-section at 26 weeks. Last night, no one was sure whether mother or baby were going to make it.

One of my closest friend's little sister has a cancerous tumor on her hip, that isn't responding to the treatments as well as it was at first. They were hoping to shrink it to where they could surgically remove it without having to do a hip replacement. She is 24.

A friend from church had a baby this week. Everything went well, but just starting out I'm sure they could use all the prayers they can get.

Three of my cousins (and me) are expecting babies over the next few months.

A close friend of mine lost her mother to cancer in January. She is handling everything magnificently but there are still days its hard for her.

I'm sure everyone could add many more requests or even praises to this list. The thing we have to remember is that no matter what happens God is in control. If we only have faith the size of a mustard seed we can move mountains.

In writing this, I began thinking about Casting Crown's song, "Prayer for a Friend" in which it talks about the bad things that happen in our lives or our friends and choices they make that are beyond our control but that are never too big for God. It goes on to ask God for the wisdom to have the right thing to say, and to know when nothing should be said.

So today, take a few minutes from your busy life, talk to God, cherish the relationship that He has given us the privilege of having with him.

Made of towels

If you've ever been on a cruise ship, you know about the fascinating creatures that are awaiting you in your room every evening. I decided this time around I would take pictures of each of them for whatever reason. Have you ever tried to make a towel animal yourself? I haven't, I dont hardly even have time to fold towels lately, let alone make them into cute little critters! But it could be fun. So, today, imagine you are returning from an evening out and about on the cruise ship (dinner, mini-golf, etc) to your room.

Day 1

A puppy dog. Curled up on the bed with all the next day's information.

Day 2

A swan was on our bed. The critters always had mints (I still have lots of those mints actually!)

Day 3

A bat flew into the room....Most of the critters wore sunglasses. Maybe that is why they make the critters in the evenings, no one is actually wearing their sunglasses after dark.

Day 4

We kept wondering when the monkey would appear. It had a mint in its mouth, but it looked more like it had a mint up its nose.

Day 5

The elephant. We were able to move him to the counter and he stayed with us the rest of the cruise. Most of the others fell apart.

Day 6

After all the wonderful critters, the stingray on the final day was a little disappointing. I know I could make that one, it was just a towel folded square with a tail that was a rolled up washcloth.

I hope you have enjoyed the evening suprises on the cruise ship. Have a great weekend.

The Great Dinner Debate

There is one conversation I can almost guarantee that my husband and I will have daily. As soon as I get home from work he asks, "What's for dinner?" My response, "I don't know, what do you want?" He replies, "What are my choices?" I give him the same list night after night, adding or taking away depending on how desperately I am needing to make a trip to the store, "Spaghetti, chili, tacos, chicken, ham, steak..." Seriously, it never changes. I cook the same things week after week. Usually after the list his response is something like, "Just whatever you want" or "Could you make____?" Something that wasn't even on my list like potato soup. Luckily when he says that, it is usually because he is hungry and has figured out which meals can be made in 30 minutes or less (wouldn't Rachel Ray be proud).

And then there are those days when I dont have to work and we get what I call a "real" meal, complete with something that takes longer than 15 minutes to cook, veggies, the works. I usually have no trouble deciding on a meal on those days because I spend the entire week thinking, I wish I had time to make roast (or lasagna or ham and beans) and am all ready for what I can cook.

Ok, so I know there are several of you that read this, either that or the same person just keeps clicking on it making the counter go up, so if any of you have any great 30 minute meals, I would love to know about them to expand our dinner time options! After all, there is only so much spaghetti one family can eat!

Hobbies

Do you ever wonder how exactly you ended up with so many hobbies...hobbies that you rarely have time to participate in? There are many things I absolutely love doing, kayaking (just had a dream about that as a matter of fact), hiking, backpacking, target shooting, four-wheelin, none of which do I ever do based from my house. Then there are those little hobbies I around the house that I really enjoy if I can ever find the time to do them that take much less time than the others. I enjoy sewing, quilting, candlemaking, soapmaking, embroidery, cooking and gardening. I do actually use my stove once per day to make dinner, but to actually get out a recipe and cook, that doesnt happen too often. I'm not real sure what I fill my free time with. I'm not at all a TV addict, and I haven't read a book since we were on our cruise. But of course, I'm sure I have more free time now than I will in a few months, so I'm going to just sit back, and enjoy whatever hobbies I can before I have to rearrange my entire house, moving my crafting stuff all out of the central location to make room for the baby.

Everything has a purpose

They say that everything in nature has a purpose and for most of the critters, it is easy to figure out. They take care of a smaller animal that may be considered a pest and/or they provide food for a larger animal. Earthworms keep the soil aerated so that things can grow. Squirrels help by planting acorns and then forgetting about them, resulting in new growth of trees. And then there are the animals we wonder, do they really do any good? Chiggers for instance. What good does a chigger do? Sure there is probably some small bug or bird that eats them, but there are millions of less itchy little bugs out there to fill that spot. I've always wondered exactly what good is a chigger. (please let me know if you have the answer to this.)

Snakes however, are one that many people despise but that I kinda like. I don't care much for mice, and snakes can eat a lot of mice. Snakes can also provide a lot of laughs. How many times have you gotten a chuckle after scaring someone with a rubber snake. Or had a UPS man back quickly up to the door when he realized that thing in your hand is actually a live snake? Or maybe you have seen my families infamous "Snake Video" when a long black snake got in the house in 1997. To make a long story short, the snake ended up leaving by the way it came in with my father standing on the washing machine singing, "The hills are alive..." So snakes are good creatures, just don't pick up a venemous one!

No Room

This past weekend we went to visit my parents for Easter. We loaded the four-wheeler in the back of the truck, all of our stuff, including the dog and cat, in the back seat. It was pretty much full. So the dillema will begin around November, when we travel, where are we going to put the baby? And supposedly (although since I've never had one I don't know) babies require a lot of stuff for themselves.... So we are trying to figure out exactly what we should do. If the weather is decent we can always put stuff in the back of the truck, and sometimes we take the car. Of course there is always the option of simply taking less stuff.

We do have a room for the baby at home, although it will have to be cleaned out because it is currently my craft room. And then there are some things in there that I have not used in the year since we moved here, and we have several things in storage that could easily disappear, so I am considering a late spring garage sale. Getting paid even small amounts to get rid of stuff I never use sounds like a wonderful idea!

Sorry, no pictures again today...more coming soon!

The Easter Chicken

Everyone has heard of the Easter bunny, but just how many have heard of the Easter Chicken? Yesterday, my nephews told me that was where they got their new shirts from was the Easter Chicken. I guess if you think about it, it actually makes sense. Chickens lay eggs, not bunnies. Peeps are shaped like chickens. So who knew, but all along it was really the Easter Chicken bringing all those eggs!

Hope you all had fun with those Easter eggs, but didn't let the real meaning of Easter get overshadowed. After all, if it werent for the cross, life as we know it could not exist.