Hope - for His Glory

This concept of Hope has gripped me like no other thing has...or at least not lately.

Hope.

I have an amazing upright cabinet grand piano. It was left in one of my grandmother's rent houses when I was a kid, and it was given to me. Because I had no piano and my cousins did (just to explain why I got it instead of any one else).

I got him when I was 10 or 12. I can't remember which. I took a few lessons and then quit. I didn't like counting and my teacher wanted me to count. I liked it better if I could play like "This" ...let's hold this note out instead. Shorten this one...

Sigh. I ended up quitting - and she ended up going to college. She's my cousin, by the way.

Let me back up just a skosh. The man who came to tune the piano when we first got it - is a genius. He never learned to play by note - he learned to play by following around a piano tuner. He watched the piano tuner play and learned the intervals. He also had (and still does) have a love for player pianos. His heart's desire is to have a museum.

My Piano Man, like many geniuses, is very quirky. He's often late. He's often broke. But he's always a genius when it comes to tuning.

He tuned the piano up to and right after The Professor and I got married. After the Professor and I got married, he traveled up to us (an hour drive) and even replaced the "ivory" on the keys. They look great.

Then we had babies and we moved. And I heard that my Piano Man had moved out of state.
I was busy with babies. And then, When I did play, they wanted to pound, too. That didn't quite work out well. Pounding on something over 100 years old isn't very nice. and it's hard to play along when that happens.

The cover stayed shut on the piano for far too long.

A couple of times, I would venture a phone call to a piano tuner and would get the same message. The same, "Well, if it's that old ... "

Then I went in to the music store to buy a tambourine. They had pianos. I sat down at a grand and tried not to drool. I had to have my piano tuned. It was time. I called a guy that advertised himself as a piano restorer. Great!!

He took a look at my piano and came up with a shopping list of things that were wrong with Him.
Hmph.
I wanted my Piano Man back. He KNOWS my piano's SOUL. I called his mom just to see if he was in the state. He was. :-)

I got in touch -- and he told me that he would love to come out. We talked.
He told me about a fall on the ice that he had that had wrecked some discs in his neck causing his hands to go numb. While listening to this story, my heart was moved.

Piano Man's passion is playing the piano. Not to be able to play?
Holy Spirit quoted, "He was moved with compassion and healed them."

We set a time. We were disconnected when his phone went dead.
I was excited.
He didn't show. I tried calling - but couldn't get through.
He called me.

We set another time.
He came out.
He looked at Maestro, for that is his name, and determined him to be in excellent shape for his age. He had some spare parts in his garage from restoring old pianos. Maestro would be good to go.

He told me again about his neck. I told him, "I've been wanting to pray over you."
My big kids and I gathered around him and prayed.
We decreed life!
The presence of God fell on him. He could feel the warmth of the healing touch.
I'm just giggly with God.
We got to a point where it was good to stop praying and he went back to work.
He told Mini-Me, that he and the piano might just be healed at the same time.
*giggle*

HOPE!!!!

Late,r as we chatted about family, He would flex his fingers. Move his shoulders, Testing the motion. I watched, fully expecting him to be healed. I believe it was God's timing that this all took place - because it's about Hope. and Hope for HIS glory.

He brought the spare parts today -- and some glue.
He told me that he was doing some work over the weekend and could feel his tools in his hands, where before he could not.

*Squeal of glee*

We prayed over him again. Decreed a finisher's anointing that he would be completely healed.
God spoke a word over him -- a word of HOPE!

It is such a sweet, sweet thing, this hope.

It's HOPE --- all for His glory.
Hope to draw people unto Himself.
Hope - just so He can show Himself faithful and true.
Hope - because, I really think, He likes to show off.

Hope.
I am sooo thankful for Grace, but I'm beginning to cherish Hope.
Because today in my living room, God gave my Piano Man Hope.

Hope and the color Yellow

When she's not blogging about her deep love of words and thoughts, her wonderful kids, or even spinning the world and making me dizzy, Toby at CarpeBanana is dreaming.

She had one dream not that long ago that has latched on to me in such a way, I know that Holy Spirit was talking to her, and through her - to me.

In this post back in February, Toby wrote the following:

I woke up from a dream about how no one wears yellow. What's wrong with yellow? So I actually had to dig around in a box in the basement with clothes saved for messy jobs to get out my yellow sweatshirt.

I remember looking at that and thinking that's a weird thing to remember from a dream. The wording of it got me. I began to wonder what yellow stands for prophetically. So I got out my color resource. From the list I had of the prophetic significance of yellow, three things popped out at me, hope, joy, light.

Really, though, it's hope that has stuck with me. Yellow symbolizes Hope.

She woke up from her dream wondering why no one wears yellow any more.
No one wears yellow because they are hopeless.

She went and put on her yellow sweatshirt. I think that is significant. She got up and made a choice. She put on her yellow, she put on hope.

Whenever I see people wearing yellow, I want to tell them "You're wearing hope."

Now, yellow is also the color that signifies light. Light pierces the darkness.

At church, we lit candles as a prophetic act of God's light reclaiming what has been stolen.
With the lights dimmed, I looked at that flame in the tiny candle. My heart reached out in wonder and Holy Spirit reminded me of Toby's dream.

Hope.

It's not a simple thing.
Hope is powerful.
It can bring life.
It can set captives free.
It can urge warriors to fight.

There are those that don't have that hope.
Even among believers, who have THE Hope.
What happens if we have no hope?
The antonyms of the word say it best: despair, disbelief, and discouragement.
Hope is optimism. If you have no optimism, life is bleak.

If we haven't hope in this current season in life, we are going to be pretty pitiful when God wants us to be powerful.

Do you have hope??
Are you wearing it so others can see it?
Are you willing to share?

Each of our worlds look different. Some would call it our sphere of influence -- but that's where we carry our hope.
We must share our hope ...
We must be willing to speak life.
To decree freedom.
Because that's what we're called to do. And we can't do it, if we have no hope.

God of this City..

Okay - we have butterfly pictures to share. Really.

But I can't get this song out of my head.
So I"m going to blog it. :-)



This is the "Belfast version"...there's a Chris Tomlin version out too. but I like BlueTree's version better.

No matter what --

There is no one like our God!!

Jesus Paid it All...

I've got nothing really to say.
Things are still scattered around here.
Serious training going on with children.
Traveling professor.
Trying to stay on top of things... I had a really blue day on Saturday.

Lots of go go go the previous couple of days and then a sudden stop on Saturday. Lots of feelings to be sifted through...Lots of tired from the go, go, go...

I was still recovering from it all yesterday. I sat here in this very spot (I think I was checking facebook and desiring a really good status update) and from the radio came the faint melody of this song..

I may not have lots to blog about.
But I have LOTS to sing about.

Scattered

Do you ever have that moment when your thoughts are so scattered you need a broom to at least get them in one spot?

That's how I feel at the moment.

Shaggy the dog has licked and licked on his paw and it was pink, then red and getting redder. So I carted him and the kids to the vet. Mini-E decided to try all sorts of boundaries while there. We discovered that Shaggy has a yeast infection in his ears. And his paw issue could be ---

seasonal allergies.

I kid you not.

I left the vet's office with a bottle of ear drops and a list of instructions.

I got the bottle out to administer the drops to his ears - he bolted out of the doggie door!!!

Neat Trick!!!

I tried again today - he bolted outside.
I had to tackle him.

----------------------

Took the kids shoe shopping. Both the littler kids needed shoes.
They had one shoe choice for Mini-E. I was really glad that it was cute.

The salesperson told J-man that she would go see what she had for him.
He told her, "I a boy. I want boy shoes."

I just smiled. You tell 'em. She grinned and brought back two pair.
One pair looked just like G-man's shoes. And the other were blue with red and white striping.
He tried them on and the Sales Lady told him to try them out.
G-man suggested that he run around in them.
J-man did.
He ran in a circle and announced, "I got my speed back!"
Shoes sold.

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Our Resurrection Party didn't go as I had hoped.
I wanted to hide puzzle pieces in the kids eggs. The goal would be to find all the eggs and put the puzzle together.

The puzzle pieces for the little kids would not fit in their eggs. So I made tiny flash cards for them.

The big kid puzzle pieces fit alright, but G-man couldn't quite put his puzzle together. All the white in the Clone Trooper armor looked alike.

Mini-Me stuck to it and got her puzzle together --- but it took her a while.
She is pleased to tell people that she "played by the rules"

Next year's party will be different.
Puzzles, if any, will be in the party bags. Not in the eggs.

-------------------------

Yesterday, I almost rear-ended a strange little car in front of me because their brake lights weren't working. I pulled into the drive way and my neighbor came to tell me that one of MY brake lights were out.

The Professor pulled the cover off and took the bulb out and headed off to the auto part store - while I was cooking dinner.

In the meantime, Outook Express locked up the computer and it didn't shut down right and took forever for the system to reboot.

The Professor returned with a new brake light and quickly installed it.

It didn't work.

We'll have to have the mechanic to look at it. He said that sometimes the whole connection burns out when the bulb does.

--------------

Outlook Express apparently can get corrupted e-mail folders.
But not matter how many times I had Windows search for the file folder and extension, It could not be found. I stayed up until 1am looking for it. I tried to download Mozilla Thunderbird to use instead of Outlook Express. But the corrupted files in Express corrupted Thunderbird's importing the files. Drats.

This morning, I Googled again and found exactly where to look for the corrupted files - and got them deleted. Outlook Express is working fine now. But I can't seem to get all of Thunderbird off of my computer. I'd really like to try using it again - but it won't stop remembering my previous settings and such.

-----------------

The Professor is traveling (surprise!!!) tomorrow.

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I lost my temper seriously with the kids today when they seriously lost their composure on life and their cool. I am not always the best example for my kids. I just hope they remember the good stuff and not the bad and that they learn to love Jesus despite of me.

-----------------

Oh, and if you see Murphy -- the one with all the laws --- let him know I'm looking for him. And I'm locked and loaded.

Happy Resurrection Day!!

I identify with Peter in The Resurrection story.
He had messed up big time. Then to hear that Jesus wasn't in His tomb...

Could it be??

Could He be alive??


He's Alive --- and I'm forgiven!!!

I'll never be the same. Peter wasn't.

It's official.....

I no longer have to buy
These:

Mini-E has decided that going in "underpants" is a good thing.
Though, quite frankly, she'd prefer nothing!
She is quite comfortable in her own skin.

We've gone on SHORT trips - without diapers.
We've actually managed church - without diapers.
We can go through nap - without diapers.

It's been a long time coming.
I think it's really the last item of "Baby stuff" that I had to get through.
And now we're through.

I'm not sad that we're done with Diapers. She didn't like them, but didn't want to be without them. They were never big enough for her...

So we say "Bye - Bye" and "Nice knowin' ya!" to Diapers.

Batman lives in my kitchen

When he's not out fighting crime, that is.

J-man got all sorts of Batman stuff for his birthday, including this Imaginext BatCave.

He now has two of those and LOVES them.

What I wish came with all the Bat "stuff" would be Alfred.

Alfred is loyal.
He's diligent.
He's wise.
He's resourceful.
He's a butler.
He cleans up after the Bat...
He cooks.
He's trustworthy.

I"m not sure how well he'd do with the kids, considering Batman is now completely grown and all.

But he might be a good listener when I'm in a rough patch with the kids.
Like today, I feel like I'm doing the same old thing with the same old results for the same old reason - but can't seem to find my way out of it. So I either need a perspective shift -- or a good push out of my ol' rut.

Alfred might be the one to help.
Even if he doesn't, He's got that snazzy British accent that might make everything sound better.
I can't pay him what Bruce Wayne does, though.
And if I did manage to get him away from Bats, I'm not sure Bruce Wayne would manage without him.

Ah, well, a mom can dream.
Meanwhile, I'll just wait for Rosie the Robot to come on-line.

We're going to the movies...

...and we're gonna have a birthday...(sing it to the tune of "We're Going to the Chapel") (it works really well).

J-man turned 5 on sunday. Sigh. He's getting soo big.
We celebrated on Saturday. Since we usually spend a certain amount of money on a gift, and I didn't arrive at that set amount - I decided that for his birthday we could go see a movie.

The Professor even offered to go. So we all went.
I looked up the times at a certain movie site I use...and found one that started at 11am.
Right on!
We arrived to find out that particular showing was in 3-D.

Well drats.
That meant glasses.
And a bit more in price.

we hashed it out a bit right there. The professor said the next showing would be better for us - and he was probably right (no glasses) but what would we do for an hour?

Hindsight says we should have found some food.

But we went with it anyway. AND blessing!!! -- The manager only charged us for two tickets!!! and we still got 6 pairs of glasses!! It was awesome!!

I stood in line and got popcorn and drinks. Meanwhile, the professor chased Mini-E around.
In a nutshell, let's just say that by the time we entered the theater, EVERYone in the lobby knew her first and middle names.

We got all settled in.
We anxiously awaited our movie to start.
But first we had to endure the coming attractions.

First up - coming attraction from Disney Naturefilm called "Earth". I have seen this commercial before. I just sat in total awe of The Creator as His Creation flashed on screen bigger than life. I cried.

I'm not ashamed to admit it. They were tears of wonder.
The film is, apparently, about 3 animal families through a year on earth.
As we sat there, I started to get emotional about the Creator creating this big Earth just for us...and looked from the animal families to my family, all in a row with their goofy 3D glasses perched on their faces (a bit early) and just about lost all composure.

Then came the clip for "Up". And I went to the other spectrum of emotions.
Mini-Me thought I'd completely lost it.
We are totally going to see that movie when it comes out.

Finally our attraction starts.
Monsters vs Aliens.
It's not a new concept.
As a tv announcer in the movie says, "Once again, a UFO has landed in America, the only country UFOs ever seem to land in".

The main character in the movie is Susan. We meet her on her wedding day.
We also meet her mom, her future mother-in-law and her husband to be, Derek.
Derek, we figure out quickly, is vain and selfish. Why Susan couldn't see that before, is unbeknownst to us.

Susan is walking outside, just before her wedding ceremony, when a meteorite falls from the sky and, well, lands on her or near her - she's lucky to be alive.

Her mother finds her dazed and confused - and pulls her back into the church and cleans her up and sends her down the aisle to Derek who unveils a glowing bride. Not the good kind of glowing, either.

She's green.

And then she starts to GROW..and GROW...and GROW.

She soon bursts out of the church, but not quite out of her dress. That's good spandex, I'm guessing, in a PG rated cartoon. She's captured by a commando unit and whisked off to ....

For lack of another term - "Monster Jail".

Susan is a bit freaked. Who wouldn't be??
She's just a normal girl who's been attacked by flying objects and suddenly wakes up in weird clothes in a metal room.

We meet Dr. Cockroach, PHD., B.O.B, Link and a thing called Insectosaurus.
These are the monsters.

We also meet the General in charge of the prison - General W.R. Monger. (think about that a second, you'll get it.)

We find out later that the General has captured these monsters while they're on "rampages" - but if you look hard enough, you'll find that's all just a hoax. But when the Aliens attack the General suggests that we need the Monsters to fight.

If the "Monsters" fight - they'll win their freedom.

There is a lot of fighting.
Susan is scared, just because she's big, doesn't mean she knows how to fight.
But when she comes face to face with the big robot alien, her instinct kicks in and she finds out what she really can do.

In fact, after fighting the robot - she's completely thrilled that she could do what she just did.

I read a really good review for the movie over at Crosswalk.com that really sums up the movie well. We really enjoyed the movie. We enjoyed the humor.

The main theme was being yourself. Which is, granted, an over done theme -- but it's a classic theme. Susan was herself. She also realized that Derek was a jerk and when she had her opporunity to stay small, I mean, normal sized - or save her friends, she opted to grow again.

Insectosaurus gets blasted by the bad guy and lays down and apparently dies. We see him a few minutes later wrapped in gauzy stuff. That told ME that he was turning into a, um, giant, um -- I hoped it would be a butterfly. I was concerned that the scene would be a bit much for the kids - they didn't mind it a bit.

Matter of fact, this became important for the final rescue.

The comic relief came in the form of Bob, the brainless blog, -- who kept thinking he was everyone else. Especially when he thought he was Susan and had it out with Derek. Saying the things that Susan wanted to say, but was too nice.
But the dialogue was splendid through out the movie.
It has fights. It has aliens. Cloned aliens at that. We really enjoyed the smart-alecky computer on the alien ship.
I don't think there was a bad voice actor in the whole thing. Hugh Laurie Rocked as Dr. Cockroach and I was quite impressed with Reese Witherspoon as Susan. To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect from her.

The Professor and I enjoyed the over all movie. It was not too childish and not too grown up.
We were so glad we saw the movie in 3D, after all. I jumped at the first thing that moved into the "air".
I'm not sure J-man moved at all while the movie was going.
Mini-e realy didn't like it much, but she wouldn't keep her glasses on and the movie was really blurry without them. She was exceptionally good, though, for a bored 3 year old.

All in all it was a good birthday movie for us.
Good conquered evil. Something that many movies lately have been lacking.
For that, I am very grateful.

A brief moment...

I'd like to take a moment from our regularly schedule Blogging (don't laugh)
to panic.

For just a moment.

I was driving along, minding my own business....

actually, I wasn't thinking about much at all. It was quiet in the car.
I was alone.
That's fun to say.

It was quiet in the car.
I was alone.

When SUDDENLY the thought came into my mind -- in 2 years --
2 very short years --

I will have an eldest child of 13 -- and a youngest child of 5.

I got rid of my baby stuff as fast as I could.
To get rid of stuff and make room - and the fact that we are done having babies - unless God should give us one. Which would be fine, by the way.

It still takes my breath away.
2 very short years.

sniff sniff.

Okay.
All done.

You may now return to your normal blogging schedule.

Quotable Moments..

We have our quotable moments around here now and again. I think to myself, "I should blog that before I forget!" I would love to keep a hand written book, but that takes forever to write because I get verbose about it and...

See?!?

Tonight, I took J-man to Target. Just him and me.
Together - no other siblings.

He's going to be 5 on Sunday.

He's going to be 5 on Sunday!!!

He's going to be 5.

We're celebrating his birthday tomorrow. He got some money from Great-Grandma and I decided to let him choose what to buy with it. He is on a total Bat-man kick. TOTAL.

He and G-man have been watching cartoons on a network on line and just loving it.

He picked out a toy and we merrily picked up twizzlers and gummy snacks (for later). We stopped in at a dollar store that newly opened and picked out some really cool balloons for everyone.

We drove home and came to the intersection.

"Hey, we're almost home. I see the McDonald's sign."

"Yep. W are almost home. Good job!"

From the back seat I hear him proclaim,

"Oh, yeah. J-man's a genius."

Keepin' me humble...

I have a pimple on my eyebrow.
I know. Ground breaking news.
way into the TMI zone..

but the thing -- it HURTS!!
My mom dropped by and asked if I had a mosquito bite. Thanks.

Mini-Me walked in as I was inspecting my new appendage. And found another.
*Sigh*
I'm 35, for crying out loud.

"Wow," says she in a tone that's close to awe, "three zits on one head."

I'm going to go find an ice pack for my pride.

Thinking stuff....

I've been thinking lately.

I feel much like Pooh, who's immortal bear wisdom said, "Think, Think, Think."
Grab some tea, I wanna think aloud.

Think, think, think

I've been thinking about the word "Nurture".
Which -- has a dictionary Definition of feeding, teaching, clothing, housing ...
I once wanted to argue with my neighbor who claimed that she was "raising the neighbor boy". She was really complaining that he was spending sooo much time hanging out at her house.
Entertaining is not nurturing.

I've been wondering if I have been nurturing enough to my kids.
I talked it out with my mom a bit -- my heart's desire IS to nurture...it's to teach them, train them and send them off to be the History Makers they were meant to be. Truth be told, I wanna go, too - but that's another blog post entirely.

But in the midst of a day there is so much going on - teaching school, teaching life, teaching that it's really NOT okay to punch your brother in the face and then not expect him to try to scratch you. And certainly don't tell me that you were justified in hitting him AGAIN. (those days also don't make much blogging fun)

And it's not okay to take a toy from a sibling -- Run to ME -- and then lay on said toy.
All I see is "guilty party".

It's the midst of the training of the controlled attitude (Even when I'm so frustrated I could bite nails) ...

How can you really know you're nurturing??

Someone said I was kind.
I sort of nervously laughed tonight- they haven't seen me on a bad day with the kids.

Nurture.
It's a powerful word.

A lack of nurture can lead to bondage... Talk about pressure.

~~~ think, think, think ~~~

Have you ever wondered what Freedom looks like??

God sets us free. He wants to set us free. He REALLY wants to see us free.
But what does it look like??

Can you see the chains piled on the ground? Sometimes you can physically see the countenance lighten and see the chin lift or the shoulder unslump..

but where does the real freedom lie -- in the heart.

How does a heart express freedom??

God showed me that my heart is learning to dance.

~~~ Think, Think, Think ~~~

There's a song called "How He loves us" ... I've posted it here before..it's on youtube.
(I heart youtube.)
In the song is the phrase--

"He is jealous for me"

Have you ever thought about it?
"He is jealous for me"
Jealous goes beyond wanting me for Himself -- which He does. Bible Says that "He is a Jealous God."
Another definition: Jealous: solicitous or vigilant in maintaining or guarding something

He is Jealous for me.
He is vigilant in maintaining and guarding my destiny.
He is vigilant in maintaining and guarding me.

No matter what emotions I may have --
no matter what the world tells me - and the world has been lying LOTS lately --
no matter what storms may come...

He is Jealous for me.
He is vigilant in maintaining and guarding ..... me.
It gives the verse "He'll never leave me or forsake me" a new depth.
He won't leave because He's God --- but he's vigilant in maintaining and guarding ... me.

That makes Him a Hero.

~~~ think, think, think ~~~

Have you ever had your head so full of thoughts, you imagined you'd be 10 pounds lighter if you'd write it all down??

I wonder if the bathroom scale can measure brain waves?
Hmmm...

I think not.