Focus...Matthew 14:22-36

The rain fall was heavy...

The boat rocks back and forth...

The wind blows, and the waves crash..

In the distance they see something walking on the water, and they were afraid and they cry out in fear...

Sound familiar?

Matthew 14:29--30
Jesus said "Come!"
And Peter left the boat and walked on the water to Jesus. But when Peter saw the wind and the waves, he became afraid and began to sink. He shouted "Lord, save me!"

I think we all have been Peter...

We step out of the boat in faith focusing on Jesus, but the harder the wind blows the more the waves crash, the louder the kids scream, the longer the lonely nights get, the more we worry, the more the mountain of bills grow......

We loose focus... and begin to sink.

We sink in thoughts of:

What if?

Why now?

Faith and Focus..

It moves us from the boat to the water faith picks our feet up to take the step towards the one who will reach out his hand and catch us when we begin to look at the waves that crash from every side...the rain may blur our vision, the wind may take our breath...

But Faith and Focus will keep us afloat.

Never loose focus of the one who will carry you through your storm.

He will guide you, protect you, fill you when you are empty, comfort you when you are hurt...and most importantly...

He will save you when you are sinking...Just focus on him.Blessings,
M

Birthdays and Baptism's

Well I haven't run away...

But I have had the thought enter my mind a few times in the last week (grin)

We have had a overload of activity since last week...

Cassie Marie turned 9...

Sean my Nephew got baptized Sunday at church..

And School starts back next Monday here which means we have been shopping for school supplies...every year the list grows....I'm not talking about school cloths either..I'm talking about:

-3 plastic folders with pockets and clasps (green, blue, red)
-2 packages of #2 pencils
-2 packages of loose leaf paper
-white school glue (do they make any other color???)
-scissors..Fiskars preferably (I don't care what brand they are...they still cut hair I see it everyday)
-24 pack of crayons
-1 package of erasers
-markers and/or coloring pencils
-1 box of tissues
-small container to hold supplies (with zipper if possible)
-clear or mesh backpack
-$5.00 for agenda
-disinfecting wipes
-germ-x
-baby wipes
-plain white paper plates (do they eat in the classroom now??)
-Styrofoam cups (guess so...)

Sooooo....
This is ONE list and we have FOUR children in school...
Our two older boys will both go to High school this year so the list isn't as bad as the two younger ones but just in case you were wondering where I have been now you know...

I have been wandering aimlessly in the aisles of Wal-Mart looking for all this stuff thinking I may need to get a second job just to pay for it..AHEM...
Blessings!

I'm including pictures of Sean my Nephew getting baptized Sunday...My Dad (his Pa)baptized him.

M

Through The Eye's Of A Child...

I usually help on Wednesday nights with the youth, but my Daughter so graciously volunteered me to be the teacher in her class for the month of July....

Did I mention the age group was 6, 7, and 8 year olds? AHEM...

Do you know it is a really bad idea to break out glitter and glue with 9 small children?

Did you know that when you let one child go pee they must all pee....

Did you know that you will know much more than you needed to know by the time your one hour class is over?

Now you must know that this class has changed me....challenged me...and forever made me look at our young children (including my Daughter) in such a different way..

They are eager to lift they're small hands to pray for:

-Mom or Dad that my not be saved
-a injury they occurred while out playing that day
-for Aunt's ,Uncles, cousin's
-and for pork chop (a dog)

They get that God cares about EVERYTHING nothing is off limits when it comes to prayer not even Pork chop the dog....

A few years ago our pastor ask that all the kids in the church come up front from ages 1-18... he gave a statistic and said by the time they were out of High School this is how many of these children would still be in church....he had over half of the kids to sit down...it shook me to the core...really I remember sitting there looking at those faces and tears running down my face...this was the reality we were facing and still are today....

I remember that Sunday often as I look at my children and so many others.

What do we have to reach them?


We have Time...

We have ears to listen..

We have voices to speak up for them..

It was just a month but I survived...and I got so much out of getting to know these small little individuals, that love God.



Never, Never pass up the opportunity to get to know them...


I found God today through the eyes of a child
He looked up at me and he gave me a smile
He brought me such comfort for which I have longed
Through the eyes of a child I realized I belonged (Author: Tommy Q)

Blessings

M

Up To Our Ears In Corn....

I am still mourning the passing of so many of our tomato plants...Blight has taken it's toll here on so many gardens.

But, the corn on the other hand has done really good...I put close to 85 ears up Saturday and we picked the rest today which I cut off....

That is a very, very , very, messy job...corn on my kitchen window, all over the counter tops, all over the floor, all over me..very sticky, very messy, and I'm very worn out...

Everyone got in on the fun work even Pete our dog...



Speaking of Pete...that silly dog tried to be a stow away on the UPS truck today...poor UPS driver comes shooting out of the back of the truck (as Pete was attempting to board the truck through the side door) I tried to explain that he doesn't bite he just thought since the door to the truck was open he would go ride'n with him...silly, silly dog!

Blessings!

M

Blood ,Sweat and now Tears....

We have spent many hours on our garden this year and up until about 2 weeks ago it looked great....

But I noticed a few leaves on our tomato plants looking well...dead (sniff)

I chalked it up as unnecessary roughness from waiting a little to late on staking and tieing them up, but then.....

Many, Many lifeless, brown, yellow, dead leaves started to appear...(sniff, sniff)

The diagnoses?

Tomato Blight...

More like the BUBONIC PLAGUE...

This stuff is brutal, the more I research it the more I feel like I'm fighting a loosing battle...I learned today that it can attack potatoes this is the same fungus that caused the Irish Famine in the 1800's...

Guess where my potatoes are planted?

You got it right beside my tomatoes.

Husband spent today digging up and removing the very dead tomato plants and I spent the afternoon trying to remove leaves and anything that may look infected with this nasty fungus...

My research tells me to remove infected plants and burn them...(sound a little rash hu?)
It also says I can buy a spray that may or may not "save" the rest of my tomatoes, we'll see...

I have talked to many people in this area who have the same problem, seems all the rain we have been getting is the culprit of this funky fungus that is popping up all over the state.

Guess what the forecast is tomorrow?

Yep...RAIN.

So tomorrow I will lay more plants to rest by cremating them in the field near by, and attempt to fight any lurking fungus that may remain in the garden....praying your garden is blight free! Blessings!

M

Never know what you'll see around here....

I have survived yet another day of canning and after I finished with my green beans for the day I decided I would try cooking a roast in the pressure cooker, it took 45minutes flat...I was a amazed and had to ask myself "Where has this stainless steel monster been all my life?" Yes it was a "love hate" relationship at first but anything that makes my life more simple! On a different note... you never know what you may see around here...thought I'd post a video of our silly dog and his favorite past time...he loves, loves, loves this!! Blessings! M

Canning 101

I spent more than an hour after I got home from church trying to sike myself up for firing the ol' pressure cooker up, with MOUNDS (I'm talk'n many, many green beans) to break (with the help of Cassie and Husband)I convinced myself I could do this (use the pressure cooker I mean) well in canning 101 today I learned it is always a good idea to have someone on speed dial that actually knows how to use a pressure cooker....and that would be my dear friend Karen, she walked me step by step through it and even called about 9 tonight to make sure I didn't blow beans on the ceiling. Actually it was fairly easy and I think (kinda) I know what I'm doing now....here's a picture of my first batch only about a gazillion more beans to break and I'll be done! Blessings!

M