Am I Getting Old?

I sent my daughter off to her first youth lock-in this weekend. She was super excited from the minute I picked her up from school she was counting down the hours.  But, this was harder on me than I expected.  Am I really old enough to have a child old enough to go to youth events?  Even worse than that was the sadness that she is having experiences without me.  When did she get old enough for that to happen?  Plus, there is a little disappointment based on unrealized expectations.  I had always thought I'd be experiencing these youth events with her.  My husband was a youth pastor after all and I went as a female chaperone to many events.  So, I always assumed I'd be with her as she experienced these firsts.  Well, life throws you a curve ball sometimes.  Our current life situation does not make my being there an option right now.  Do I trust the chaperones she is with--ABSOLUTELY.  But, that doesn't lesson the sadness that my baby is having an amazing experience without me.  I know that letting go is part of parenting, but it is a part I'm not sure I was ready for yet.  I've survived this night.  We'll see how I do when she heads to her first weekend long youth event several hours away.  :)

There's No Place Like Home

"The Scarecrow listened carefully, and said, 'I cannot understand why you should wish to leave this beautiful country and go back to the dry, gray place you call Kansas.'"

'That is because you have no brains,' answered the girl. 'No matter how dreary and gray our home are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful.  There is no place like home'

The Scarecrow sighed.

'Of course I cannot understand it,'  he said.  'If your heads were stuffed with straw, like mine, you would probably all live in the beautiful places, and then Kansas would have no people at all.  It is fortunate for Kansas that you have brains."

Do you consider Kansas a dry gray place?
Do you have a favorite place in Kansas?  Check out our blog for some ideas.
http://kansas150th-150thingstodoinkansas.blogspot.com/
Do you agree with Dorthy that "there is no place like home."?
After living in other places, I found myself wanting to return "home" to raise my children in a place and culture I understood.  How about you?
Who is your favorite character from the Wizard of Oz?  (mine is scarecrow)
What is your favorite rendition of the Wizard of Oz?  (I love the movie with Judy Garland and the sci-fi mini series Tin Man)
If you've never read the books, I recommend you do so.  I plan on reading through the entire series.  (There may be more updates as we go along.)
I can't wait to see Oz The Great and Powerful in theaters.  What about you?

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Thanksgiving for today
491.  Leadership opportunities
492. Friends who get excited with me
493.  Free samples
494;  Cooking with my son
495.  Devotions as a family
496.  Listening to music being played in my house
497.  When I only have to ask once
498.  Natural talent

Idol Worship

The Skit Guys themselves talk about how controversial this video is. It definitely challenges our way of looking at things.  So, what do you think?  What is your gut reaction?  I for one do not believe being a football fan is necessarily idol worship.  Idol worship could really be anything that you "worship" to access, including church.  Notice I did not say God, I said church and those are two different things.  How could church become and idol in your life?  What else could become an idol?  It's all about balance and keeping God the focus of our worship.  How do we make sure we're doing that?

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Thanksgiving for today
486.  Creative ideas to start a new month
487.  Piano fingers
488.  Freedom of letting go
489.  Finding the lost
490.  Completing errands early in the da

Thank You

"She had found there was nothing she wished to say in her morning prayer except Thank You"  from The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim

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Thanksgiving for today
475. Making space for new items
476. Freshly mopped floors
477. Excitement of students learning new things
478. Donations
479. Laptop

Harlem Globetrotters

The Cub Scouts offered a fun outing for us this week.  We got to go watch the Harlem Globetrotters at FHSU.  Our first great surprise was where our seats were located.  We were four rows up from the floor behind on of the goals.  My wheelchair couldn't exactly climb up four steps, so Eric and I got to sit on the floor at a table that wasn't being used.  That gave Azure a great place to get down and under the table which was completely closed in the front--so he just got to take a nap and avoid the craziness of the weekend.

Even if you're not a huge basketball fan, you would have had a great time.  There is a basketball game being played (sort of) with a lot of showmanship activities--long shots, slam dunks, balls being rolled on shoulders fancy ball handling tricks, even a player standing on the basket.
There were also several time-outs during which contests were held and audience members were engaged in the action.  The entire game was set to awesome music--some current and some from my era.  :)

 

Halftime consisted of inviting all audience members out on the floor for a dance party to YMCA.  Our daughter joined right in.  Our son waited until the song was almost over to ask his dad to come dance with him.  They missed out!!  :)

 

 

 

Autograph time was well done.  After the game a rope was run around the court and the players stood a various locations to keep the line sort of in order.  I wasn't going to tackle the crowd, but the player directly in front of me was Flight Time (who I remembered from the Amazing Race).  So, Azure and I made the attempt to join the line.  Well, I am here to tell you it was worse than managing the crowd at Wal-mart on Thanksgiving evening.  :)  We were fighting all the people trying to leave the arena and not head to get autographs.  So, we gave up and went back behind our table.  Later, I could see my daughter getting close to Flight Time, so I tried it again.  It was much more manageable now and when we got to the front of the line, staff let us under the rope and into the court.  He walked us behind the players and would tell them we were there.  Our daughter got the rest of the autographs on her basketball in record time.  We girls decided we like "rock star treatment" the wheelchair gets.  Check out this website to see some more perks from living with a wheelchair.  http://wheelchairlove365.tumblr.com/

The boys were going around together and got all the autographs too.



 

Probably the biggest perk of the whole evening for me was recognizing Flight Time.  Somehow I knew immediately when they came out for warm ups, that I had seen him before.  He and Big Easy were on the Amazing Race and I fell in love with them there.  They were among my favorites and I loved getting to watch them race.  Funny how my brain works.  I can't remember much of what I need to in day to day life, but I sure can remember Flight Time and Big Easy and that they were on Amazing Race.  Come to find out, the kiddos fell in love with Big Easy when he was on Kicken' It.

Guess that's just way more important for me to remember than say to take my vitamins.  :)  I'll never understand how a brain works. 

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Thanksgiving for today
469.  Baptism
470.  Obeying Christ's commands
471.  Paper Cutter
472.  Finding what you need right when you need it
473.  Increased independence
474.  Bartering Power

Pride Slays Thanksgiving

Henry Ward Beecher's words: "Pride slays thanksgiving…a proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.

Lord, keep me humble and grateful. 

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Thanksgiving for today
461.  Board games
462.  KSDS
463.  Aleve
464.  Sales at just the right time for just the right item
465.  A dog run
466.  God winks
467.  Walking weather
468.  Finding better deals on the same item with minimal time investment

Launch

Today was our LeadHer launch.  Check out www.leadher.org to learn more about  this amazing organization  The more I learn, the more excited I get.  This year we are learning about the wardrobe of a leadher and tonight we learned all about mercy--which we should put on every day.  It should be new every morning. 

This was our launch.  Just for kicks, I looked up the definition of launch.  I found several definitions, but one was "to release, catapult, or send off."  Now, I know that launch also means "start", but I like to think about God catapulting us into the community to see what hHe has for us.  I can't wait to see what that will be.

We also talked about what we want to do with the second meeting of each month.  We want to be the hands and feet of Jesus and want to spend time in the community, not just continually meet together and talk.  If you'd like to join us in this mission come to a meeting.  Check out our Facebook page at  https://www.facebook.com/LeadherLocalWakeeney  If you don't live close enough to come on over, check out www.leadher.org and pray about starting or joining a chapter in your area.
 
I'm so excited about this chance to serve and learn more about Christ as well as have a community  of believers to support and encourage each other.  I can't wait to see what God will do through those of us who are willing.  :) 
http://angel-searchingforthetruth.blogspot.com/2013/01/balance.html

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Thanksgiving for today
456.  Worship
457.  Fellowship
458.  LeadHer
459.  Laptops that work downstairs
460.  Stair chair