Clam Day

One disgusting animal!

And to think PEOPLE EAT THESE THINGS!

On Science Day last week we dissected clams. You never know what you are going to get when you open a clam! . Everyone's but Nate's was good color and clean! His on the other hand had thick, bottom of the river slimy mud all through its parts.

That makes me think of our lives before Christ. We are slimy, sticky, & no one wants to touch our soul. We've been kept at the bottom of the river. In the dark, where nasty things (sin) thrive.

"For everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed..." John 3:20-21

When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, he reaches down into that darkness and pulls us up into the light exposing that sin and begins to clean us and bring us to His grace. The slime and the stinky mud begins to wash off.

"But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God." John 3:20-21

We become clean creatures once again. Much like the other clams at the table, who had been brought to cleaner water and their systems had been cleansed by it.

We should glorify our Christ by shouting off the rooftops His healing, cleansing, grace and mercy that has changed us from that dirty, slimy clam to the clean, gleaming white clam that we should have been all along! Then, :

"You should be an example to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." 1 Timothy 4: 12

Not to mention:

"Set an example of good works yourself, with integrity and dignity in your teaching." Titus 2:7

Do you know of a dirty clam. Or someone who just needs some grace? We are also told :

"But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin's deception." Hebrews 3:13

As sisters, and brothers too, we are to be there for one another and not walk away.

We are to say, "Hey, what does Christ's words say about ...."

Call on them. See how they are doing.

PRAY!

God hears all prayers! A wonderful councilor once said that God can take the belated prayers and use them in the time that they were needed! Yes, that means that today's prayers that were needed 2 days ago are used 2 days ago! Before you every uttered the first prayerful word! God doesn't go by our time! He is not held to our standard measures. He created time! He is the great and almighty that can do anything that he wants! In His great and merciful time!!! I am not in control! Praise God for that!

"O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress," Jeremiah 16:19

Isn't that just relieving to know that in our failures he reigns and makes the world a better place.

I think I need to stop drinking coffee!

Gotta go get the kids up! Busy day.

Keep the Lord on the phone and talk to him every second!

Spring is Here

Wow! Spring is surely here! Flowers, pollen, beauty, AhhhhhhhhChoooooo! I've really enjoyed all the beauty that God has brought forth this season. AHHHHH CHOOOO! My yard is still the desolate desert of rocks. Very few things have come back this year. My fig tree is doing very well. Hosta, monkey grass, my azaleas actually bloomed this year. My wonderful, going to be my privacy fence between me and my neighbors is alive and growing. The iris in the front bloomed out nicely. I don't believe they bloomed at all last year, but Jerome says the kids picked them before I ever got a chance to see them. Figures! The little kids are playing more out in the dirt again this year. That means that one thing is growing! The ring in my tub!

AHHHH CHOOOO! Oh, and by the way, this is not me sneezing, but my dear sweet hubby. His allergies have finally caught up with . He started his new construction job two weeks ago and the pollen has finally taken a toll on him. He loves his new job. He is building gas stations and other small buildings. At night myself and Jerome work with some friends of ours cleaning office buildings. Let me clarify, we clean them out and help reset up of tear down when they move to a new building. Lots of goodies can be found there! God has blessed us greatly. We have been faithful to rely on him when we thought things were going south. Many times one of us would be waning on our faith and the other would slap some since into the other. We stood strong as He commands us to do.

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.Ephesians 6:12-14

We were just standing. Today we fight.

Jerome is starting a men's Bible study with our church. He is very excited. He will be using, of course, the Bible and Point Man by Steve Farrar. He says it is time for men of our church/community/ country, you get the drift, need to "man up." I MADE him change is wording a bit. It didn't seem just right to say "cowboy up," his original thought. But PLEASE be praying for this in the coming days. It starts on the 14th of May. Thursday night at OUR HOUSE! Pray that the devil stays away! No family problems, no house problems, no marriage problems and no work problems. Pray that it all comes together like the Lord wants it to.

Also around our house is a new batch of kittens! OH SO SWEET! 5 in all. 3 little black ones and 2 black and white. 3 girls and 2 boys. Sarah Kitty is a good mother. I have 3 to give away! Any takers?

Sarah the cat had her kittens between our computer desk and the wall. That is only about 8 inches. One determined mother.

Just one precious baby!

We are thinking of naming them after candy! Sweet! Any suggestions?

Sarah

Hey, Sarah just asked if she could have "a 'zert?"

"A what?"

"A 'zert. "

"What?"

"Mom! I've eaten everything! Can I have a 'zert!!!"

"Oh. A dessert!"

Websters dictionary defines dessert as: 1. an usually sweet course, as of pie, cake, or ice cream, served at the end of a meal. 2. uncooked fruit served after, or in place of the sweet course.

Sarah is this definition! because she is my Sweetie Pie! Sugar Dumpling! Honey Dew! Pumpkin! I just can't get enough of her!

A cheerful heart has a continual feast. Proverbs 15:15 (and sometimes just lots of good ol' zert!)

Hello out there! Tap-tap-tap!

Wow!

Life is really hard when you loose power,

phone and water for a few days!

Easter was beautiful! Then came those dreadful storms! The winds howled and pushed and were ever so powerful! We woke around 2:30 am to hear the trees around our home twisting and creaking. There was an eerie feeling in the air. We laid there for several more min. deciding whether it was bad enough to actually go to the basement or to wait it out.

With in min. the weather turned worse and the snap, pop and bright light of the transformers happened! It was time to go!

The house was clothed in a darkness that was thick as pea soup. I went to the girls' room and quick, yet sternly woke C up and urgently told her we had to get downstairs immediately! She quickly woke, gathered her few things and followed me down the stairs. I had scooped S up in a snap and she never knew we went down. Jerome went to the boys room and gathered them.

We all slept in the floor till about 5:30am.

We woke to Sarah trampling all over us!

She was startled to find herself not in her bed.

We listened and it seemed the wind had died down. That's when we went up stairs, still in darkness, and crawled into our own beds. (Ouch! Lying on concrete floors, even the carpeted ones, are not good for any body!)

In the morning, we woke to find that trees all around us had fallen. Several houses in our neighborhood had them through their roofs, across storage buildings and lying in the streets. God had spared us & everyone directly around us. Thank you Jesus for your protective covering. It wasn't until late Tuesday afternoon that we gained power, and we are still without a phone today. (But we have the Internet?!?)

Over the weekend, we spent time with the Clarks and then later with the Walkers!

I took family portraits of the Clarks. They are wonderful to work with. Each of those babies are beautiful. Mark and Wendy have a love that will last a life time. You can visit Wendy on her blog, Long days, Short years listed on my favorites. I've know this family for 15 years!!!! Wow Wendy! Our children have grown up out of diapers together!

The Clarks

The Walkers are absolute blessings to our family. We hadn't seen them in 3 years! The last time Rona had seen Sam, was when I brought him home from the hospital!

We originally went to church together several years ago. I had the pleasure of working with Rona at the church day care.

Jerome loves spending his time with Gene.

They had been in a men's Bible study together many years ago.

We arrived at dinner and didn't leave till VERY late. (We are so sorry guys. And the next day being Easter! I'm sure your day was long after being up with us. )

Gene, being a Jack of many interest, has been raising meal worms for awhile. They are great for fishing......feeding the birds...What else? I'm not sure. A strange sort of thing, I think. Well, anyway, Nathan got to bring home a souvenir. Yep. Gene sent home a shoe box of worms !!!!!! Now, Nate, being the great fisherman, thinks this is great! Jerome... thinks this is great. Me? Chloe thinks they are GROSS! I might be on board with her. It tickled Nate, it tickled Gene. I'm happy as long as the lid stays on!

Rona and I were loving the chat time. Never running out of things to talk about. I love spending my time with her. Never a wasted moment.

And no picture posted as I promised!

I hope to see you again soon! Thanks family!

God is still providing jobs for us, in case I haven't mentioned it. He started a construction job with a family friend. Working there during the day. At night we are working together with some home schooling families cleaning office buildings. With God's help we will be able to keep up with our monthly bills and give him all the glory. There were times that each of us lost our cool over the whole thing of not having a job. He blessed us with each other to slap some sense into the other one! We have been unemployed for 3 months exactly. And now God has supplied job after job. Anything from mowing grass, painting bathrooms, construction, cleaning, photography. God is a mighty God. Always supplying our needs.

Have a blessed night!

Pictures from yesterday's post

This is the pasture out our backdoor. It is always quiet. You never hear the whirring of traffic. There is an occasional wild animal like a rabbit or deer. I'll never forget the Easter Bunny showed up one year living in a pile of broken limbs! My mother still giggles about that one! I had to be 7 or so.

When we were out walking Sunday, it reminded me also of the past days when my parents and I would go walking the fence line. Mother gets a good giggle out of that also. She says I always had to pack a lunch. Even if we just ate! I guess I was a boy scout at heart! Those of you who know me now are shaking your heads in agreement aren't you. Always OVERLY prepared.

The perfect Lord allowed me to have just a few moments alone on our walk to capture this beauty. I love butterflies & am very appreciative when I can capture one on film! This one stayed for me nearly 5 min.! It was a true blessing to watch his beauty. His wings were together for a long time and then, as if a nudge from heaven, he gently opened them and warmed his little body in the sun. He was only about 1/2 inch giant!

This is sweet Peter that we had to take to Papa's to live. Notice this time I said to Papa's? My Dad loves pets of all sizes. I think it is my mother we have to tip toe around! J brought Peter home last spring. He was no bigger than our new kittens who were 8 weeks old at the time! He told us that we he returned from his sales route, that one of the fellas had brought this pup into the count down room. He had found it thrown up in the cab of his truck by an unknown person. So he brought it back to the shop. He thought he had a roc on his hands due to it had no tail, or that it's tail had been whacked. J, being the hunting dog expert of the room, explained that it a hound. Needless to say that was the end of those fellows wanting a hunting dog. J brought Pete home and we all fell in love. Unfortunately Pete did learn to climb the fence and then proceeded to snoop through neighbors' garbage and kidnapping stuffed animals from small children! Now Pete has a new home. ;0)

My Mom has the greenest thumb. This is a cactus that we gave her on Mother's Day last year. It has now had 2-3 babies. This is one. I love the gentleness of the leaves and the calming green.

This is one of my Mother's favorite plants, the Camellia. She has two bushes covered in these delicate blooms.

We had a really great time at Mimi's and Papa's!