I forgot I prayed that!

Last Monday night at our church prayer time, a prayer birthed in me. I prayed it would be a week of groaning to learn and understand more about God. That we would use all our mind, and heart AND strength to dig and learn and comprehend Scripture to a new depth.
Then I went home and carried on with my week.

Sunday morning rolled around and all of a sudden I realized God had answered that prayer and I didn't even recognize it.
All day Saturday I wrestled with Scripture in preparation for teaching the age 8-12 Sunday School. I read, and researched about Old Testament sacrifices and the tabernacle, and covenants and how it all related to Jesus and the new covenant.
After hours of this, I got to the point where I said to myself and God,  "there is so much here! There is just so much to understand! I am overloaded!"

I was reading Exodus, and Leviticus and Hebrews. I was reading commentaries and articles. I groaned and I shook my head, and then I texted Dave. (he was at the ski hill with Anna-Lee and a friend). "Dave, please pray for me. I am overloaded with Scripture and information. I need clarity to know what to focus on for Sunday School!"

And so, clarity came, Sunday rolled around and as I was getting ready for church, it all of a sudden dawned on me. I got what I prayed for. Depth, groaning , and using my strength to dig deeper.
Thank you Lord. It is rich, and You are fun.

Auto-Spell

I am new at all this technology stuff. Before Anna-Lee and I went to Israel, I decided I would succumb and get a smart phone so we could text and call home.
It's a nice phone, but I really only do very basic things with it. 

The other day this texting was the source of one of those from the gut gauffaws resulting in wet eyes.

It is called auto-spell and it has been one of the more frustrating aspects of my technology experiences. Usually, what I wrtie is what I want, but the "smart" phone tries to override me and decide that it actually is not what I want, and change it to something that makes absolutley no sense.

 So, there I was, sitting in the waiting room at ballet, texting Monica. One of my answers to her was uh-huh -  a synonym for yes, yep, yeah...

I pressed "send."
Then realized auto-spell had changed my little uh-huh to...
unhygienic.

I burst out laughing, wet eyes and all, sitting by myself in the waiting room... except for the other people sitting there "wondering..."

.
 

Chew your doors

I talked to someone the other day who absolutely does not enjoy teaching kids in the middle school years - hormones and all..
Now I only have one at this age - not a room full - but I am soooo enjoying these middle school years with Anna-Lee.
There is more freedom to explore topics and interests and we communicate at a higher level than the elementary years.
We have great conversations and still lots of hugs!

A couple Monday nights ago at our church's prayer night, the leader asked us to come up with 20 things in the last 24 horus we were grateful for. Specific things. Not like the toddler's prayers of thank you for mommy and daddy and sissy, and doggy, but real things you can put your finger on that you are grateful for.
What an amazing exercise this was.
For years I have been searching to find God in the little things. To recognize Him throughout every day.
That night I came up with 25 real things I was attributing to God that I was so thankful for.
 The more I reflected, the more I remembered.

Try the exercise. It's good for the heart and for our relationship with our God.

Today - my heart overflows with gratitude for my day with Anna-Lee - listening to her play the clarinet, getting to know her better and impacting her life, smiling with her, laughing with her and really listening to her thoughts.

Another spoonerism - they keep coming up now that we are aware of this literary funny bone.
Do your chores...
Chew your doors.

Friends

When I was in universtiy a very precious friend taught me how to play the guitar. Although I was not a Christian at the time, the only songs she had to play were Christian!
One of the songs was: What a Friend we have in Jesus. I loved this song, primarily because I could actually play it!
 
It's taken about 30 years, but I  am finally learning this reality
As I recognize and alter my outlook to go from "Where are You God? Are You there God? Do You care God?"
to
"Thank You that You are here with me now,"
I had a sudden impression of "Friend."

These last 48 hours have also revealed God as Friend.
Faced with having a raw nerve hit, He has gently taken me aside, led me to Scriptures to guide me in understanding. He is not offended by my raw nerves and in fact soothes and comunicates on a deep level with me - just as a friend.

I am so enjoying my new found relationship with God. 

Spoonerisms

One thing led to another and I went from researching the name on a quote to discovering spoonerisms.
It sounded so interesting I chose to add it to our day of school today. And, Monica had the day off of work, so she joined us.
It all added up to an hour of hilarity.

Language today included these examples:
"Save the whales" became "wave the sails"
"Go and take a shower" became "go and shake a tower"
"I hit my funny bone" became "I hit my bunny phone"

As you can tell, a spoonerism is when you transpose the first phonetic sound of two words in a phrase.

We had about 20 examples, and then came the really funny time.
We had to make up our own.
It is harder than it looks, making up a phrase that when the sounds are transposed, it still makes real words, and that perhaps is what led to so much laughter. Three of us coming up with ridiculous phrases.
Yes, our eyes were wet. Yes, we were keeled over in laughter.

Anna-Lee's
I tie a bow
becomes
I buy a toe.

Monica's
Cat's nail
becomes
Gnat's kale

And mine
The red boat
becomes 
the bed wrote.

Plus we had dozens more that were a bit crazier, making even less sense.

Try it, and comment below if you come up with one!

A Goal for 2016

New Year's Resolutions. 
I used to not bother with them as no one actaully seemed to ever have success in accomplishing this New Years tradition beyond week one.
But, this year, I thought I'd give it a try. One thing. One thing only.

Here it is.
Laugh more.
Laugh until my eyes are wet.
Laugh every day.
Not just a smile, but a rip roaring side splitting, bend over, eyes watering laugh.

However, there's not much in a typical day that is really cause for a spontaneous guffaw.Getting immersed back into laundry, and disability issues, and scheduling, and meal prep, and homeshcooling, and raising a middle schooler, and having an adult daughter with multiple disabilities living at home, and more meal plan and prep, and...
Life soon takes over and the laughter becomes rare.

Interestingly, as this became my desire for 2016, an article came in talking about needing to plan to laugh. 
Put things in our day that are funny - read a humorous book for example.
I'm going to add - read it out loud with someone.
Laugh with someone.
Laughter is contagious and being with someone makes it louder, longer and livelier.

So, last night I went on the Library website and ordered a bunch of books to read out loud with Anna-Lee during our homeschooling day. 
If you are looking for one - here is one we have already read that was a riot. Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.