one little indian

monkey and i did an indian craft today. we made a vest and a headband with feathers. isn't he adorable!! and such a ham! tomorrow we make a pilgrims hat. he really could care less about that! he is all into the indians. when i asked him why he said "because indians have bow and arrows." spoken like a true boy.

The Justice Project

When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all your undertakings. Deuteronomy 24:19


i just returned home from the Justice Project, an outreach our church has our life groups involved in. each life group was given a family to encourage and to pray for that has specific needs, mostly financial. we spent time talking to our families and finding out what they needed and provided them with a Thanksgiving meal and in our case, clothes for the children and cleaning supplies. i have never been in this part of my town before. and i have lived here for 30 years! the justice project is not just about helping the poor and needy but opening your hearts to them. not just about praying for the poor but doing something about it. about being an ear for someone who needs to talk. about taking them coffee just to say i'm thinking about you. not just dirty knees from praying but dirty hands from helping. this is my first time involved in doing something like this and man it really hit me hard. the lady that sent us out talked to us about what God said about the poor. when He had the priests send up burnt offerings to Him, the meat was used to feed the priests and the poor. so even God remembered them. and when His people harvested their crops He told them to leave the edges for the poor to glean from. in other words, God tithes to the poor. i have never thought about that before. i have no problem giving $$ if i can but never think about doing any more than that. i want to be involved. the justice project was a real eye opener for me. i am so proud to be part of a church community that wants to help others. i was shocked at how many people showed up today!! thank you next level for helping me get to the next level!!

week in review

apples apples everywhere! and hand turkeys too.


work work and more work.

finally wood for the fireplace!

harrison came to dinner. so funny. yummy mexican lasagna.

southern christmas show. mikey told santa he wanted a massaging car seat. what a hoot! awesome trains and cinnamon pretzels.

shopping for our justice project family. gotta love Aldi's!

big c's thanksgiving/etiquette luncheon. man!! he is handsome. (don't you think he needs a haircut?)

deer in the back yard. in the fence no less.

no rest on saturday then sunday is "Shattered" at church. so excited!!!

hopefully over the thanksgiving holiday i can get a real post in!!

happy weekend

oh and i forgot to mention the LICE!!!!!

the leaf doesn't fall far from the tree

monkey and i have been working on the letter L. and leaf starts with the letter l. so we went on a leaf hunt and then learned about them. we learned why and how leaves change color. i was impressed; he was not. then we did leaf rubbing's. i was great at it; he was not. then he got to finger paint some leaves on a tree. that he loved! (note the cat) and since sorting is a big deal in kindergarten, we sorted the leaves from largest to smallest. he has that down pat. i also wanted him to know how trees grew. and since i didn't have any seeds, i used beans to show him. we put some cannellini beans (which is all i had) on a wet paper towel, folded them and then put them into plastic baggies. i'll keep you posted on their growth. he was very excited about his "experiment".

today i ordered the ants for his ant farm. not real thrilled about that but both boys are excited about it. we are also going to have a butterfly farm in the late summer and we are going to grow a frog. that makes 4 different animals this year!! (see the fish here)


i can't believe i have to start thinking about buying gifts soon. uggh!! usually i have a list by now. this job is putting a big chink in my schedule! :) but i'm happy to have it believe me!

note to self...

i am an avid note taker. i love nothing more than to go somewhere (usually church) with my special pen and something to write on and jot down pearls of wisdom from others. i don't know if this is because i'm not very original myself or writing stuff down helps me to remember better. and i just got this great new note book just for taking notes at church. i managed to cover 2 pages today! now if i can just remember to go back and read it all!

pastor todd is teaching on jonah. most of you know the story, prophet not wanting to do God's work, runs away and ends up in being eaten by a big fish. great sunday school fodder. (no pun intended) but i never looked at jonah as someone like me. a prophet! well he must be a great guy who always does what he is told. i constantly hear God telling me to do stuff and i just don't want to do it so i run in the opposite direction. huh. just like jonah. todd asked us this week to give God 100%. not 92% (or in my case 75%). so my note to self is this. GIVE 100% TO GOD THIS WEEK.

my pastor posted this last night after hearing the news...

my pastor posted this last night after hearing the news...

Historic Night

We don't do partisan politics at Next Level and, no, I ain't gonna tell you who I voted for!

All that aside, this is a historic night in American history. Senator Barack Obama has just been elected president. The first African-American President. The first bi-racial President. At a perilous and promising moment in the history of this nation. In an instant, this man's life has changed. He is about to become the most powerful person in the history of the world - which is always the description of the American President. The responsibilities he will bear are beyond telling.

His is an extraordinary story, and agree or disagree with his politics it is impossible not to admire his grit and determination in arriving at this night. May he be blessed and may he know God in ways he has never before imagined.

I am writing as a pastor, not a partisan, to make a few points.

Pray for President-elect Obama. Pray that God will bless him with great wisdom, courage, discernment and insight. Pray in particular that he will be wise in his selection of men and women to advise him.

Whether you voted for President-elect Obama or Senator McCain, know this - the world has not ended on the one hand, and the new era of perfection has not begun on the other. God is still in charge of mankind and nations and He is working all things to his eternal purpose. Focus on what is eternal, not what is temporal.

Finally, pray for healing and hope for our nation. These are difficult times. More than ever before, our greatest need is to turn to God who wants to heal and restore and give us hope!

ma-ma mia!

monkey decided he wanted to go as Mario (as in Super Mario from Nintendo) for Halloween.
fine with me. the only thing i had to get was a $3 mustache and his costume was done. i laughed so hard i wet my pants twice. and what was even funnier was that people walked right up to him and said "MARIO!" they knew exactly who he was. big c, being 12, was sullen about what he wanted to do. it just had to be something dead. so i suggested a zombie. that way all i had to get for him was some white makeup. then he wanted green hair. whatever. but he looked good. he's so cute he even makes a zombie look adorable! don't tell him i said that! he would get mad at me! we went to the church up the street that was having a carnival. they handed out tons of candy and free stuff. they both got stuffed animals (?) and monkey got a whiffle ball and bat. and they had free hot dogs. then we headed over to my mom's neighborhood. she has more houses than we do and she said usually everyone gives out candy. well i think the recession is bitting into the candy giving in my town. we walked many streets but only about 3 out of 10 houses were giving out candy. oh well. my kids got tons!! we headed to the store afterwards to get a pizza and monkey and big c got their second wind. so i dropped them off at the end of the street and went home to put the pizza in the oven. they worked their way up and got home in time to cram candy and pizza in before i made them go to bed.
not a bad night i would say!