I walk into my bathroom tonight to find...

...my 6yo sitting on a stool with the clippers and giving himself a haircut.  WITH NO GUARD ON IT!!!  Of course he didn't start towards the bottom of his head but very close to the very top...  I couldn't help but laugh.  And then I tried to fix it but couldn't so I ended up shaving his entire head with no guard on at all but he's happy because he looks just like his daddy and now he will have to go on our vacation to the mountains of Tennessee with a cold noggin.  The end.

And I thought spelling was for smart people...

Olny srmat poelpe can.

   I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

STRETCHING YOUR FAITH

Here is a wonderful devotional by Nancy Campbell from Above Rubies.  You can subscribe to her encouraging e-mail's by following the instructions at the end.  I always seem to get these in my in-box just when I need them the most!

 

Love,

Marsha

 

John 6:5-6, "Jesus said to Philip, 'Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?' He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do."

 

The crowds gathered to Jesus to hear His words of life and to be healed of their sicknesses. Soon there were thousands -- five thousand men besides women and children. Jesus was filled with compassion towards these people. He not only wanted to feed their souls, but feed their bodies. And so He turned to Philip to ask him where they could buy food for all these people.

 

Philip was nearly dumbfounded! "It would take a small fortune!" He spluttered in unbelief. Actually, different translations give different amounts. The NIV says that "eight months' wages would not buy enough bread." The CEV says that "it would take almost a year's wages." The situation looked impossible to Philip. He couldn't see past the thousands of people and the impossibility of feeding them all. His faith could not go beyond his sight.

 

But Jesus had asked him this question only to test and stretch his faith. Jesus knew all along what he would do. And we now know the outcome of the story and how Jesus fed this huge crowd from five small barley loaves and two small fish!

 

But let's put ourselves in Philip's place. What would you have answered? I'm sure my response would have been the same as Philip's! But I pray that my faith will be stretched. I want to see beyond the looming difficulties in front of me. I want to see beyond the impossible situations. I want to look to God to whom nothing is impossible.

 

God wants us to believe Him. He wants us to trust Him in His mighty right arm. He wants to lift us up from our earthly sighted view to see Him. Our God is not a man. We must not bring him down to our level and to what we see. We must come up to where He is and see things as He sees them. He sees far beyond the circumstances that we see. He knows how He will deliver us. He knows the final outcome. All we have to do is trust.

 

Next time you face an impossible situation; do you think you could change your response? Instead of confessing it is impossible, confess your trust in God. "Lord, I know that you are bigger than this situation. I can't see a way out, but I know that you know the way out. I trust you to lead me. I trust in you to do what is impossible."

 

There are times when God will put you in situations, just as He did Philip, inn order for your faith to stretch and grow. Don't waste these situations.

 

Remember, that all along God knows what He will do. He has the answer. He has everything in control. Absolutely nothing is impossible to Him.

 

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

 

Affirmation:

Nothing is too difficult for God.

 

Prayer:

"Oh God, I thank you that nothing is I impossible to you. Help me to increase my faith. Help me to get into the habit of always looking to you, instead of the problems I face around me. Amen."

 

If you know others who would be blessed by these devotions, you are welcome to forward them or let them know they can subscribe by sending a blank email to subscribers-on@aboverubies.org

My day at the ER and the rest of my not-so-good week

Okay, so all of my vaca posts have been a bit deceptive.  It has been one rough week!

 

It started with a fender bender in the pouring rain on Monday night.  Fortunately, the kids and I are just fine.  The car is not too bad but not exactly fine either...but that's a story for another day!

 

Today began with "Mommmmmmy!  Come here!!!!  Hurry!"   My 4yo somehow catapaulted himself off the couch and hit his head on a chair...crying to me with blood running all down his face. 

 

So I called some friends to take care of the other kids and headed to the Children's Hospital 45 minutes away with a hysterical and hyperventilating little boy.  Just the thought of going to the doctor was making him crazy!  I guess he was a bit more traumatized from his vaccinations a few months ago than I thought.  So we clocked in at the ER at 12:15pm...5 very long and boring and tiring hours later they saw him.  Praise the Lord that they were able to glue his laceration instead of having to use stitches!  A whopping 5 MINUTES later we were out the door!  All that waiting and it only took 5 minutes of the doctor's time...but 5 minutes is better than 30 minutes or an hour.

 

I am truly thankful that it was a simple cut on his head and not meningitis, a broken arm, or appendicitis (like the other kids in the ER).  And he did think it was quite fun to watch all the cartoons that I don't allow in my house... But it sure was exhausting for me and just crazy overall.  I don't know why these things happen when dh is on a trip...the last two times this same kid had stitches on his head, I was the one who had to go through the ordeal with him.  I know it's also been hard on dh feeling so helpless and guilty that he's not been there.  So I don't give him a hard time about it.

 

Hey, but guess what???  I'm going on vacation!!!  Trust me, that thought went through my head many times today!

 

Oh and tomorrow morning, my sweet little green snotty nosed baby has a doctor's appointment since he's been that way plus a slight fever since Saturday.  So much for school this week!  Or next week because then I'll be on vacation!!!

 

Thanks for letting me vent...G'night y'all!

 

Love,

Marsha

I'm going on vacation! Woohoooooo!!!

Okay, so it's not tomorrow but the thought of spending quality and quantity time with my kiddos and darling husband makes me sooo happy! 

 

Now we are planning to fly into Knoxville on Sunday and leave very early Thursday morning.  Amy Beth has been so helpful with advice on what to do and where to stay.  Check out the cool cabin we'll be staying at next week!  Talk about a luxury splurge for us cheapskates!  And my boys will be in hog heaven with the air hockey table and the "hot pools."

 

We will be visiting (and the name still kills me) Dollywood on either Sunday afternoon or Wednesday.  There's this rundown and just plain scary travelling carnival that sets up at a grocery store parking lot a mile or two down the road from us.  It's at a major intersection so we pass by it often when they're in town.  Every single time my boys beg to go to the carnival and ask why we don't go there-- and we all answer together "Because it's not safe."  I've told them that there are amusement parks that are safe and those travelling ones are NOT one of them!  They will be so very excited about going to a big, safe and Christmas-y decorated one!!!

 

And I am very very excited to finally meet the crazy TOS clan!  I think that my goofy family might actually feel normal amongst them-- hooray! 

 

Okay, gotta go to bed now.

G'night y'all!

Marsha

Watch out TN, here we come!!!

Little did Amy Beth know what she was getting into when she mentioned Smoky Mountains, Dollywood, Gatlinburg and the word PARTY!  With all of that, how could we resist travelling to Tennessee?

 

So watch out JenIg, Gena, Amy Beth, AnneMarie, Kris and anyone else I may have neglected to mention-- we're invading!  And Amy Beth, you just tell me when and where on the part-ay and we'll be there! 

 

We'll probably fly into Knoxville Monday morning and leave on Thursday (as in next week-- yikes!).  Wednesday we'll visit Dollywood since they're not open Monday or Tuesday AND they should be all decorated up for Christmas (hooray!).  My kids have been SOOO excited about vacation-- mainly because "vacation" means they can have dessert when we go out to eat...it's the little things in life, right?  I'm glad they weren't disappointed in not being able to go to DisneyWorld...mainly because they really don't even know what DisneyWorld is!

 

I am praying for good weather, safe travel and beautiful fall foliage!

 

Thanks for all the suggestions, dear friends.  Maybe I can visit a different person each year...now that would be really cool.

Need Vacation Ideas ASAP!

We were originally planning on visiting Walt Disney World in Florida the beginning of November (sans baby-- who will be staying with grandma and grandpa).  However, we fly standby and the flights have completely filled up.  No Disney World for us.

 

So we are now vacation-destination-less!

 

Any suggestions?  It will be myself, dh, and my two big boys (6yo and 4yo).  We are looking for something that's kid-fun-friendly-fantastic, or at least just fun!  We are willing to fly and then rent a car or just drive from our home here in humid Houston, TX.

 

Please help!  My boys and I are counting on y'all!!!

 

~Marsha

Success!!!

Hooray!  My culinary life is not completely hopeless!!!

 

If you want a really yummy and easy treat for you and anyone else invading your kitchen, try this:

 

1. Heat oven to 350.

2. Unwrap a bunch of those MINI Reese's Cups

3. Spray mini muffin tins with cooking spray

4. Put chocolate chip cookie dough in each tin

5. Bake until golden and it just smells done

6. Remove from oven and immediately insert Reese's Cups into each center

7. Cool on rack and refrigerate just until set

8. Try not to eat them all by yourself and all in one sitting...

JenIG is a better cook than I...

*sigh*  Okay, BIG *SIGH*!!!

 

I was doctoring up the soup a bit more with some additional milk and some sharp cheddar cheese...then the phone rang and I had to take care of some business on the computer and forgot about the boiling broccoli soup that now is more like bubbling burnt broccoli blech...

 

So I guess I'm not as good a multitasker as I thought and now I can't have y'all over for soup and chicken and JenIG is a much better cook than I!

Broccoli Cheese Soup a la JenIG

Per JenIG's post proclaiming her proclivity at producing some positively palatable broccoli soup, I decided to give it a whirl myself.  A la Jen's cooking style, I threw in some of this and some of that...just didn't use quite as big of a pot as she did since I know that I am the only one that's going to be eating it around here...darn picky eaters...

 

Into a pot went 2 cans of chicken broth, a whole bunch of chopped fresh broccoli, some milk, white pepper, 4-6oz of Velveeta, one can of potatoes that I blended, and then a big smidge of mashed potato flakes (to thicken it even more).  Forgot to mention that I first simmered the broccoli in the chicken broth and then added all the other stuff.

 

I used Velveeta because the mysterious "they" say that it melts better than cheddar...it does give the soup a hint of a processed flavor so next time I think I will use some colby cheese instead.

 

Anyone want to share some soup with me?  If you come visit, then I'll even make a very delicious roast chicken to go with... I even stuff the chicken with garlic so the actual meat is infused with flavor (as opposed to just a flavored skin).  Anyone? Anyone?  Puuh-leeeease???  One can only eat so much broccoli soup without feeling a little ill...should've stopped at the second bowl...