Pioneer Woman

My sick computer has been healed! Well, actually I buried it in the backyard under the oak tree. But now I have a new (and very welcome) addition. I have now entered the Mac World, and am finding it a very nice place to be.

My new favorite place to wander in Mac World is the Pioneer Woman's

blog. I was first introduced to Ree through her cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks. She's a city-girl turned country-lover, homeschooling mother of four, and creative to the core. You should wander on over too!

I made her chocolate chip cookies for work the other day...yummy. They have a nice heaping teaspoon of instant coffee granules that give them that special little something. I'd post a picture of them if they weren't already gobbled up. Maybe next time...I've got my eye on her chicken parm right now. I think a trip to Wal-Mart may be in store for the day. So, while I head to the store, hop on over to visit the Pioneer Woman. But beware, you might drool a bit as you browse through her cooking section, so have a paper towel or bib handy!

Girls' Discipleship

After a long absence in the blogging world, (as a result of a sick computer stuck as an inpatient at Best Buy hospital for over 2 months) I have returned! I'm so exited to be starting up girls' discipleship again today. I'll be taking a small group of 10th-12th grade girls through Jerry Bridges' Respectable Sins, which I've heard is one of those great books that just gets you right where it hurts! Any one read it? Let me know what you thought. I'm praying that the Lord will use this book in each of our lives to change us into more holy imitators of Christ.

Lipstick on the Wall

When my brother was about 2 years old, he took my mom's lipstick out of her purse and "decorated" his room with it. It was everywhere...on the walls, his toybox, the door, and all over him. With all of the red, it looked like a gruesome murder scene. So some kids paint their walls with lipstick, others give themselves a haircut, but my little pooch seems to be content destroying things that she is not even supposed to touch.

This morning I was awakened by the jingling of her collar as she sat so angelically by my bedside waiting for me to wake up. As I got out of bed, I praised her for being such a good dog and not acting the fool to get me out of bed. But then, I walked up front...

To my great surprise, my living room rug was scattered with shards of CDs, random bits of paper, and a few other things that I'm still not really sure what they used to be. I keep a basket of random tv-related things under my tv, blockade in with books and baskets so that she can't get to them...or so I thought. Apparently, my little mischief-maker spent some time figuring out how to get into the basket and then made several trips back and forth to the rug with her new-found treasures...and then proceded to tear them into shreds.

Apart from the mess, there were no great losses, a few CDs to replace and papers to tape back together. My "While You Were Sleeping" DVD now has a nice imprint of her mouth...if only dogs needed dental records. I wonder if the police could use it to identify her if she ever ran away? Another of her victims was an instruction booklet on how to use her gentle-lead collar...she's always hated that thing...maybe this sparked the ransack.

I think this is one of the things I'm supposed to laugh about some day. Perhaps that will come after I've vacuumed all of the shards of broken CDs out of my rug. I suppose this is tame compared to what she could have done with a tube of lipstick...I don't even want to imagine that!

Knit Souls

Every year in February, my best friends from my years at the U of A get together for girls' weekend. Though I don't see these girls much more than this annual trip, it is so fun that we can always pick back up right where we left off. It's so much fun to have friends like that...the ones that you don't have to explain everything to...they just understand you. It reminds me somewhat of the friendship between David and Jonathan, "As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul" (I Samuel 18:1). That's what we are...knit souls, or "bosom friends" as Anne of Green Gables calls them. I so enjoyed my time hosting these ladies this year and am already looking forward to Girls' Weekend 2010!

Fishers of Men

I received this picture from a friend in India who was visiting the seaside. How staggeringly it brings home Matthew 4:19-20: "And he said to them, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.' Immediately they left their nets and followed him."

Like a Storm Against a Wall

Four baby funerals in one day just seems like too much. It's been a pretty rough couple of weeks at work, culminating today with four funerals of children less than 2 years old. All of them were very traumatic and pretty unexpected. One got hung in the mini-blinds at home and was strangled to death. The other was playing with his mom in his hospital bed one minute and then pouring blood out of his mouth and nose the next. Another was finally starting to get well and had a seizure. Another had just come in for a clinic visit earlier that day and been fine, and went home and died later that day. Forgive the vivid descriptions, but it's difficult to explain just how really horrific and tragic they were without knowing the circumstances.

It's really rough times like these that I have to remind myself of God's sovereignty and that all His plans are for His glory and our good. As Isaiah reminds us, His plans are from of old, and they are faithful and sure.

"O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name,for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure...For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall, like heat in a dry place...He will swallow up death forever;and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation." (from Isaiah 25)

I'm so thankful that during these times that seem as though I'm being beaten down with a storm against a wall, that I can trust in the Lord whose plans are faithful and sure. He makes no mistakes, and all that He does is good. So, I encourage you whether you've watched 4 babies die this week or gone through some other difficulty, rest in Him. He is our shelter from the storm. May we wait for His rescue that is coming when He will swallow up death forever and wipe away all tears. Let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation, for this world is not our home. This life is just a camping trip...we are seeking the city that is to come (Hebrews 13:14). May we live with that in mind.

Meet Callie!

A girl that I work with was giving away lab puppies, and I picked Callie up on Sunday night. She is the runt of her litter but very playful and rambunctious. Though she still whines a little when I put her outside, she had adjusted really well. Callie is very active and loves to pounce on all of her toys and always be underfoot. She loves to chew on fingers and toes too...a habit which I am trying to break! She's so sweet...right now she's asleep on my foot, exhausted from romping around the back yard. It's so fun to have her!