Emily, Emily

Life is difficult. There are too many issues, concerns, & just plain stuff for this little soul to handle. God spoke to my poor little soul tonight at church.

The speaker, who I only got to hear the last bit of because it was a Saw You at the Pole rally which started at 6 and I thought normal church started at 7,.... anyway.

The speaker used these two verses.
Luke 10:41-42 "But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her."

He said that "portion" here referred to the idea of "enough".

This made me think of my favorite song, "His Eye is on the Sparrow"
"Why should I feel discouraged? Why should the shadows come? Why should my heart be lonely? And long for Heaven and Home? When Jesus is my portion, my constant friend is He. His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me."

In so many ways, I am like Martha. I like to plan everything, iron out every single wrinkle... OCD perhaps. Life, however, is not like that. I can't make everything work. I have no power to. I can't solve the world's problems. It is not in me.

I can, however, sit at the feet of the One who has all power and is the answer to the world's problems. This stubborn, worry-filled Martha chooses to be Mary. I WILL sit at His feet. Yes, my eyes may dart to the dust on the shelves, the meal to be prepared, the problem to be fixed, but I will train them back on the One who is my portion, who is enough.

Lord, help me stay here at Your feet.

Love,
"Mary"

Mending the Soil

Ok. So I quarantined myself today... nothing serious.... just a low grade temp last night. I think it's probably sinus mess. However, I always get frustrated when sick people come out in public to share their germs so I have prescribed uber liquids for today and will stay away from people. Also, there is no telling what I've been exposed to... the joys of public librarianship ;o) (I love my job though)


Anyway....I turned on the tv while I was eating my lunch of Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup w/ club crackers. :) I caught the end of a sermon being preached on the parable of the sower. He was talking about a "cultivated heart".

This reminded me of something a patron said a few months ago (about gardening):"You've got to mend the soil."


It takes work. We've got to seek Him, His word, and His will.


But He is faithful..... "And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You." Psalm 9:10


Our seeking will not go unanswered.


The preacher also mentioned the fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5, something which has been on my heart lately.


It is my prayer that He will mend my soil/soul and cultivate the fruits of the Spirit in me. All praise to Him for His wonderful faithfulness!

A Bumper Crop of White Paint

Mrs. Alva is one of the absolute sweetest people God has ever placed on this earth. Her driveway, however, is pure evil. (see diagram)

Ellen, Anne, & I went to see Mrs. Alva the other day. Ellen drove. The visit was great despite the fact that Anne whispered to me the entire hour. :P It got time to leave so we got our Mrs. Alva hugs and left. Ellen had to move the van halfway through the visit and ended up parking here. (see diagram)

Now along this treacherous driveway is a cute little white fence. (see diagram)

Here's how things went......

Anne: ::incessant talking::

Ellen: (working on backing the van up) This isn't working. I'm about to hit the fence.

Anne:: chatter

Emily: Turn the wheel like this ::mimics rotating the wheel in the air after contemplating carefully::

Ellen: Arghhh

Anne: chatter

Emily: Anne ::full name:: no more talking till we get to the main road.

Anne: Emily ::full name:: What's the main road?

Emily: Anne

Anne: WHAT'S THE MAIN ROAD???

Ellen: Argghhh

::Bump::

::Scrape::

Ellen: Unhhh

Emily: It's ok.... just pull back up.... straighten up...

Anne: What's the main road????

Emily & Ellen: ANNE!!

So, we make it to the Pig, Ellen gets out to go in, but takes a glance at the bumper beforehand. The face says it all.

We make it home and look at the front bumper.... oh ho..... we should have taken a picture.... a huge white paint scrape from the front left of the bumper down the side of it.

We go inside. Mom's there. Ellen starts this... "everything's ok..." which just freaks Mom out more. Mom tells Ellen that Ellen is responsible for telling Dad.

Ellen & I get old towels, wet them down, and start to work on cleaning the paint off the bumper. It works quite well actually. We then make a sign for the door which reads "No farm animal zone. Thanks, The Children"

See, whenever something like this happens we state that the parent is going to have a farm animal and the child will be responsible for its care.

Dad comes home, walks through the house, finally returns to the living room where we are all awaiting the reveal. (I even got up from my nap to see this!!)

Ellen: So, how was work?

The rest except for Dad: ::snicker::

Dad: It was ok.

Ellen: Can I get you anything?

Dad: catches on that something is up

Ellen: Mountain Dew?

Dad: I had one on the way home thanks.

snickering continues

Nathan: Perhaps I could dust your head? (from Cool Runnings)

snickering increases

Emily: So we went to Mrs. Alva's today

Mom loses it

Ellen: She was doing good.

Emily: Her fence is too.

Mom continues to lose it

The situation is explained.... Dad walks out and, even though the man has been told that the paint was only on the front left bumper, he walks to the back of the van first without even looking at the front bumper. Nathan and I watch from the safety of the house. Ellen doubles over laughing or bemoaning Dad's reaction... not sure. Dad finally comes back to the front of the van and inspects.

After they get back in the "maybe this will make you more careful" "I am careful" discussion ensues.

Good times, good times.

Mississippi Em and the Archwire of Doom

Yet again the presence of medication and pain and the absence of sleep provides interesting results....
"Ode" to an Archwire
Oh 16/22, why do you hate me so?
If you didn't like my little teeth
You should have just said "No."

But, no, you heavy gauge archwire
You let them jab you in
Mere resistence wasn't enough and
You let the pain begin.

But I will not be bested
By some silly little wire
Though, with sinus pressure mounting,
The situation seems quite dire.

No, I will not sit and moan.
Well, maybe a little pout
And compose a little poem
Cause one day, you'll be out!

<3 Emily

Fewer meds, more sleep

So, my mouth was hurting something ferocious last night thanks to the new arch wire they put in. I took some sinus meds to relieve the pressure and aleve to attack the pain.

Somewhere in the middle of the night I had this 5 second dream. I was just awake enough to think "WHAT????"

Setting: Pirate facedown in a pool of blood (the pirate physically looks like your generic pirate but is wearing clothes quite similar to Captain Barbosa) I am standing over him.

The pirate is dying slowly and quite painfully. He asks me to roll him over and stab him in the heart to stop his suffering. I roll him over and with this spear/stake thingy I just so happen to have on my person, I stab him.... in the right side of his chest.

He looks at me, in even more pain, but no closer to death and says "Seriously???"

Goal: Less pain, fewer meds, more sleep

Anne and the never-ending strangeness

Anne is a strange kid. All these were said in less than 24 hours.

Anne: Hey Hey Hey Hey (in response to me trying to spread the butter out on her roll instead of leaving it in one big pat that she could just bite)

Anne: Oh. Here you are. I thought you were dead.
Me: No.
Anne: Are you going to die today?
Me: Not that I know of.
Anne: But you might?
Me: Probably not.
Anne: Ok.

(Mom had prayed for our food and prayed that Anne would continue to grow up to be more like God)
Anne: I don't think I'll ever be as old as He is.
(Mom clarified)

Anne: I was excited about butter.

Anne: Mom, you owe me a dog.
Mom: I don't owe you anything.
Anne: You owe me a dog.
Mom: You wouldn't be able to take care of it, to walk it.
Anne: I would walk it.
Mom: You can't even go outside by yourself.
Anne: I would walk him and you could go with me.
Me: If she was going to do that she would just walk the dog.
Ellen: I didn't get a dog until I was 12.
Anne: Mom, may I get a dog when I'm twelve?
Mom: We'll talk about it when you're twelve and if it can stay out of the way of my wheelchair.
Anne: It will.

Anne: Yay for home for saving our lives from not sleeping on the street........at night.

Anne: What's personality?
(we explain)
Anne: I think that's what I have.

Oh boy does she..... never dull but quite often maddeningly talkative. :D

Stupid people....

*written March 8, 2009*

Sunday School this morning referenced Isaiah 5. It talked about how God (my well-beloved) felt about His chosen Israel (the vineyard).

"Let me sing now for my well-beloved

A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard.

My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill.

He dug it all around, removed its stones,

And planted it with the choicest vine.

And He built a tower in the middle of it

And also hewed out a wine vat in it;

Then He expected it to produce good grapes,

But it produced only worthless ones.

And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,

Judge between Me and My vineyard.

What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it?

Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?....

For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel

And the men of Judah His delightful plant.

Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed;

For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress."

Isaiah 5:1-4, 7

STUPID ISRAEL!!!! YOU MAKE NO SENSE!!!! God had done so much for you. He delivered you from Egypt. He gave you provision even in the worst of places. He lead you to a land He had chosen for you. STUPID STUPID ISRAEL!! What more could He have done than He had already done? Why, when you had seen all this did you still produce nothing but worthlessness? Why, when you have seen His provision did you grumble? Oops.

STUPID STUPID EMILY!!!!! YOU MAKE NO SENSE!!!! God has done so much for you. He has delivered you from so many things. He has shown His lovingkindness to you in even the worst of times. He has blessed you with a life full of wonderful people and things. STUPID STUPID EMILY!! What more can He do than He has already done? Why, when you have seen all this do you still produce nothing but worthlessness? Why, when you have seen such blessings do you gripe and complain?

Forgive my wandering, complaining, wayward ways.