Baby Brothers

Once upon a time...there was a little brown-eyed male species who came to live with us for an undetermined time period. This small but energetic creature was a curious active being, testing all boundaries placed in his little world. These lines of structure were in place to protect him...from himself!!!

I had the special privilege of being his older playmate but I was smart enough not to follow him everywhere he chose to wander. Especially if it required climbing any higher than 3 feet off the ground! During this creature's second or third year, he embarked on an exploration to high places all on his own. At the time, we were liiving in a small one room with a partition and bathroom which shared a wall with a work shop on one side and on the other side, an apartment for my grandparents when they visited.

My mother and I were in the kitchen area one day when we heard footsteps above our head. My mother looked up at the ceiling and then hollered, "Brian, you get down here right now!!! He had decided to explore the workshop next door but had climbed up in the ceiling!!! Well, you know he wanted to obey his Mama immediately, therefore, he just came right through the ceiling, landing at my mother's feet!!!! It is amazing that he did not land on his head!

You guessed it! This was my baby brother, Brian, who is 2 1/2 years younger than I. So glad that I was smart enough not to follow him on this exploration!

Scrambled Random Thoughts

Crash and Burn...or Object Lesson?

I was so elated to have finally completed the huge task of cleaning and purging the attic. Seventeen years of tossing things up there (literally at times! :)) and generally just putting things out of sight instead of seriously considering their worth. It was a national disaster above our heads!!

My To Do list has always included the attic but definitely pushed to the bottom of the list every single time. Well, NOW was the time -- Attic Attack is commencing!!! A little over 3 weeks later, mission accomplished!!! Ninety-five percent that is now back resting in the attic does not belong to us...it belongs to two daughters who left home with light suitcases a few years ago!!!

Task is completed and it is time to clean up from all the bits and pieces that accumulated on the carpet. Our shop vac was much more powerful to do this major job. I was giddy with excitement to have this hard job finished so I was not focused on the task at hand. Moving a couple things out of the way so I could vacuum an area, I stepped over the short power cord to the vacuum and the long hose with attachment. I turned around to pick up the hose and continue vacuuming but next thing I know, I trip and find myself on the floor! I still cannot figure out how my foot got stuck in something on the vacuum, bent 3 toes up to meet my ankle, falling completely on my knee and side as my glasses flew off my face! And there was no way I could stop my fall! I was thinking as it was happening, "This is not going to be good!" Surely I have broken one of these toes! Of course I was also chuckling too as I puzzled over how in the world I managed to trip over the cord and hose. America's Funniest Home Videos would have liked a video of this in slow motion! No broken toe, just very sore! And the carpet is clean!

This sparked some random thoughts as I continued to chuckle over this mishap. Isn't this how sin trips us up? We begin to clean up our act - so to speak - confessing our sins, promising the Lord we will forsake those sins (little, big or whatever - all are sin). Aren't we pleased with ourselves when we make this sincere effort? The reality is that we must guard our hearts as those sins creep up to tempt us again and "trip" us up. We begin to wonder how we arrived back on the path of defeat and discouragement where we had stumbled along before prior to the "clean up". We forgot to focus -- and listen to the quiet authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit. Daily we need to rely on the Holy Spirit to "plug in the power" and keep us from "tripping".

Ephesians 6:10 "Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

First Grade...First Love

First Grade...what picture is Image 1 in my memory card? It is in color - red, white and blue, approximately 5 inches x 7 inches, just the right size for an almost 6 year old to hold in an eager little hand. The first "primer" for reading!!!! The title: Bill and Susan. This was before "Dick and Jane"! To this day, my "first love" is to have a book in hand, turning pages with anticipation as to what is coming next in the story, the smell of that book, the feel of the book is just part of the reading experience.

I found learning to read an easy lesson. Although many years later while homeschooling my own kids and learning phonetics, I am amazed that I did learn to read so quickly. At that time, you had to just memorize words...guess I was good at that!! My teacher, Mrs. Barnett was a sweet older woman who I am sure had her hands full in our class. There was one student who I imagine we all have not forgotten - although his name does elude me. Poor little thing would have a puddle under his chair every so often. Even at this age, I felt embarrassed for him, knowing intuitively that this separated him in some way from us. Yet I do not recall any remarks made by students and that no doubt was because of how Mrs. Barnett handled the situation.

I am so grateful that my first exposure to reading was positive and exciting, prepping me for all of my school years ahead. A love of reading is such a gift that keeps on giving. My love of books is quite obvious here in our house! There are 11 bookcases in this house and I have a very hard time parting with any of my "friends"!!!