69 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 5-24-16”

  2. Good Morning AJ and Chas. The photo on the header is so beautiful. We don’t have roses around yet, but we do have an abundance of wildflowers popping up on the forest floor…so tiny and delicate are they!
    I’ll be having lunch with my 2nd child today…what a precious blessing she has been to us…and I get to have her three children spend the weekend with me while she and her hubby run the Boulder Boulder….
    Kim and BG are leaving next week Chas…praying it will be a time of respite and healing….
    Hope your day is filled with the peace that passes all understanding ya’ll…..

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  4. I wish I could turn that rose into scratch and sniff because the fragrance is heavenly!

    Art and I just got home from voting. Since we live in a pretty liberal area, and we voted in the Republican primary, many were running uncontested in the positions up for vote. I always expect to see a line when we get there around when the polls open, but again, no line. Sad. Not many take civic duties seriously anymore.

    I just opened the window for Miss Bosley to sit in and enjoy the bird that is making major ttwweet, ttwweet, ttwweet sounds this morning. I would love to have a caged run for her on the outside of the house like Kim posted on Facebook.

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  5. I hope Forrest got on the bus without giving you any troubles, Karen O. Maybe if you and he dropped bread crumbs along the walk to the bus, he could look to see if the birds had eaten the crumbs when he gets back home.

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  6. This is for those of you with “adorables” who like mac and cheese. Last night I made it using the little itty-bitty alphabet pasta. I think they are intended for use in soup, but I made them like regular macaroni and the girls had a blast finding (and eating) their names and identifying other letters and numbers. It turned out well and we all enjoyed it.

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  8. Beautiful rose.

    Here’s Pastor Paul on not sleeping (I’m pretty sure I heard from him as a teenager to pray when you are sleepless. I get a lot of praying done from bed):

    https://pastorpaulanderson.com/2016/05/23/when-you-cant-sleep-2/

    The Alabamans fly next Thursday to San Francisco. Guess who will be their introduction to that city?

    I learned years ago that wild flowers are small because they are not coddled and given good soil and plentiful nutrients like our garden tended blossoms.

    Though I would like to know why the annuals are faring so poorly in my garden bed while the wild flowers flourish in the cracks of the cement . .,.

    Back to normal today: teaching on Paul’s thorn in the flesh and then, finally, back to Biddy.

    In other news, Pam’s daughter-in-law wants to talk to us about something important when she comes to clean today (and read chapter 15).

    Life is good. I do not believe I will finish my rough draft by Ju e 1, but you know what? My life has felt so much more normal in 2016 than I had hoped. God is good.

    Did I mentioned I am refusing to eat any M&Ms in 2016? That was my new year’s resolution.

    Since Imoften use my fondness for M&Ms as a metaphor for sin in my life, I wonder if there is a connection?

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  11. That rose is as full as a peony, but the leaves appear to be that of a rose bush….the scent of both flowers are so similar to me…and both being favorites of mine! 🙂

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  13. The flower is a rose♡ My MIL gave it to me.

    I have had no sweets for about two months. It is difficult to give them up, but it is okay. I say I have had none, but a little creeps in with salad dressings, and with the mango cups that I drain the light juice from before mixing with plain yogurt. And my other source is from cough drops I have occasionally.

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  16. Someone recently told me to stop eating processed sugar but the Kid got a big bag of skittles for his birthday. It is big enough that I can sneak the purple ones an not get caught. I think he saw me. The bag is gone from the kitchen table. I bet it’s in his room.

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  17. On June 1 BG and I will drive over to New Orleans late afternoon. We will spend the night in a hotel near the airport. I will be able to leave the car there for $7 a day rather than airport parking of $20 or $30 a day. We will take a shuttle to the airport for a 6AM!!!!!!! flight going through Houston and arriving Oakland around 10am. I am looking forward to crossing the Golden Gate Bridge but relieved that I will not have to drive over it myself. I have a fascination with heights. I love them and am terrified of them at the same time. Michelle has done a wonderful job on FB of gathering places that we might like to go. I think I may want West Coast, cold water crabs. We have them here but obviously they are shipped in frozen. As much as I love eating those I can only imagine that fresh is 3 to 4 times better.
    Friday the 3rd we will pick up the rental car (I am still stunned at the deal I got!!!! I called them back to make sure I hadn’t misunderstood). It is a 5 or so hour drive up to the ranch from Michelle’s. On the one hand I am hoping for sparse cell coverage and on the other I am wanting to make sure I have it. It has been a while since I drove or functioned alone in unfamiliar territory, but this trip is about changes, challenges, and getting our of comfort zones. I have been practicing walking in my Choccos. The first time they hurt my arches but I have begun to get used to them. I have a laundry basket that every time I think of something I will need to pack I toss it in the basket. I tend to over pack and I haven’t made the effort to find a new swim suit so I will have to take an ancient one. We will be at the ranch June 3 -10. I would appreciate all of you praying for BG and me during those days.
    We could have flown our of Oakland at 4pm going through Chicago getting back to New Orleans at 12:30am but we are waiting to fly out at 7pm on a direct flight back to New Orleans arriving at 1:15am. Obviously we will spend another night in the hotel before driving home.

    I have been planning and paying for this trip since last November. It is hard to believe it is almost here. Just typing all this out has made my tummy fluttery.

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  18. That Peace rose is beautiful and harder to grow than mine. I do absolutely nothing to mine except I cut it way back this year. Someone down the street has a similar large rose bush at their mailbox. They seem to thrive and spread like weeds here.

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  19. Processed sugar is supposed to feed everything in our bodies that is bad for us: inflammation, cancer, diabetes, obesity, etc. But it sure tastes good and is difficult to clear out.

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  20. I cut way back on sugar after my dad died of cancer. He had to be out of the hospital so many hours before they could get insurance to pay for a CATscan. He was diabetic so they called to get his blood sugar level before scheduling the test. His sugar level was too high. They couldn’t do the test because cancer shows up as sugar on a CATScan. I made the connection that sugar feeds cancer. I may be wrong, but I still am at risk for diabetes, I have two aunts who are breast cancer survivors and a grandfather who died from liver cancer. I figure cancer is going to get me one day but I certainly am not going to make it any easier for it to than I have to.

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  24. Mumsee, that is me, too, with no turn off button (except for a long time I have not wanted things that are real sweet, except maybe Krispy Kreme donuts fresh from the assembly line). I love a Dr. Pepper once in awhile, too, and sweet iced tea (of course, being a GRIT–Girl Raised in the South) which I have not had. I did put a small sqirt of lemonade in my unsweetened tea on Sunday at Firehouse Subs.

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  26. I picked up a few grocery items for my friend Karen earlier. I got a few nice pictures of grape leaf hydrangeas and magnolia blossoms in their complex. She is trying to decide about going to the ER. I told her I would take her if she wants me to. I think she needs to go. She is trying to wait it out. 😦

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  29. In my quest to be Joan Crawford Mother of the Year…I missed some emails from JH Ranch. Somehow gmail separates emails it thinks aren’t important. I have been supposed to collect affirmation letters to be read to BG at the end of the week.
    Thankfully the ranch called me today to ask if I would speak with a mother who is bringing her daughter from that town in Alabama where that great book was set…you know? Maycomb?

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  35. Mumsee, You can’t get Krispy Kremes in Idaho. Clearly I will have to bring them to you. My favorite are lemon filled. They are a fried rather than baked donut and the plain ones have a sugar glaze on top. If you are living right and God is happy with you, you will drive past when the “Fresh Donuts” sign is flashing. They are still warm and melty at that point.

    Fortunately or unfortunately as the case may be, I had to drive past one every day on my way to work when I was pregnant with BG. I got stopped at a traffic light right at that corner most mornings when the Fresh Donuts sign was flashing. The smell was more than I could handle and 19 years later I can still only take them in small, infrequent doses.

    https://www.krispykreme.com/

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  36. I don’t like gravy, but peanut butter M&Ms are also my downfall . . .

    The store that sells the California rub is maybe a mile from the airport shuttle drop off.

    Saw the widow when I went to Bible study this morning and we were sharing stories. I told him on Friday, so many of us were shaken up we could barely function intelligently. My office, for example, pretty much closed down since all three of us were a mess and had just seen and chatted with Pam at length on Sunday.

    Then I was telling him the Pastor’s wife couldn’t correctly make the coffee cake she’s made countless times before. I screwed up macaroni and cheese that night, somehow, and finally just shoved it in the oven and hoped for the best.

    He had gone into work early that morning, “for some normal to my day,” and realized he was not able to concentrate long enough to do the job well. “I’ll just have the really easy jobs for awhile.”

    We bade each other farewell with a laugh and then he tried to open the door of my car to get in and drive away.

    Which made us laugh all over again.

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  38. In the extraordinary news department from the ongoing Biddy biography, I have another amazing story.

    I’ve been trying to connect with Brother Andrew–yes, that Brother Andrew–because he is the only person I know still alive who actually knew Biddy and her daughter Kathleen. I’ve been working on this from several angles since March 1.

    In answer to a Bible study woman last week, “How can I pray for you and your book,” I told her about waiting to hear from Brother Andrew.

    “I’ll pray about that.”

    What a concept! I’ve been praying for an answer ever since.

    Yesterday, I got the answers that he is able to give to my questions.

    Here’s the prime one:

    “People compared Biddy with Enoch. As she walked with the second hand books of Oswald Chambers to the post office in the evenings, people said “look there goes Enoch, he walks with God”. This was a great testimony.”

    Don’t you think that would look terrific on the cover of the book?

    Dancing with joy, still amazed by God’s goodness–I’m going to be spoiled from ever writing anything again!

    Thanks be, only, to God! 🙂

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  39. I must need Michelle to pray for me! I have to write a one page paper on a book I just finished on learning styles. On top of everything else it just feels like too much. Please pray that God will just give me the words in His special way.

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  42. Ok, so how do you get an E ring back on? I took the thing apart so I could sharpen my rotary mowers. Everything worked like they said but now I can’t get the E ring back on. There has to be a trick to it. I had hoped to prove to my mechanic son that I really could do something mechanical. This will elicit laughter (again) if I do not get it back in place before he gets home tonight from the sports awards banquet. Not that he ever laughs at me. He is too polite and respectful. That is why I keep him around. Not to mention he fixes my stuff.

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  46. The fern is planted but when I went out to do that, I found one of the buck goats was loose and eating the rabbit pellets spilled onto the ground. If it is not one thing it is another. These are not things normally dealt with by husband, this is my bailiwick. But I used to have more able helpers. But the nine and eight year old helped me get him repenned.

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  48. Mechanic son popped in and E ring is back on. I just needed to force it on. Now I should be able to do the other mower. He smirked, turned back to me to continue a conversation, looked again at the two lawn mowers in the living room, smirked again…..

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  51. Feeling like such an incompetent failure today, over that matter with Forrest (on the prayer thread). Then, when I was out at the bus stop this afternoon, to get Forrest after school, my neighbor made a not-so-nice remark about it, & I felt so humiliated.

    Being a firm disciplinarian was my biggest challenge as a mother, & I admit I was not always very good at it. (But I must have done something right, because my girls were always well-behaved & helpful at school & for relatives, & even for me most of the time.)

    And I’m definitely not good at it with Forrest. Fortunately, his mommy is very firm with him, so in general, he is a good little boy. (His teacher talks as if he is a little angel at school. 🙂 )

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  52. I’ve felt older today. It might be from mowing the lawn. Or using the weed eater. Maybe from sweeping up all the grass clipping off the walkway. Perhaps it’s from signing a counter offer on our house. Did you know the FHA requires the seller to pay part of the closing costs?

    Or it just might have to do with the cake Mrs. L made for me.

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  58. Happy Birthday Peter 🙂

    Walked the dogs through the neighborhood “duck” park today after work, residents managed to swipe the 2 beloved geese out of there this morning and get them to another preserve location due to the coyotes. I missed seeing them and hope they don’t have coyotes where they’re being taken, too, but they may. Nature, doesn’t always play nice. But touching when people try to do what they can to limit the carnage.

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  60. Around here the conservation department allows hunters to take as many Canada geese as they can since Canada wants the population reduced. It seems the geese are destroying the tundra. Maybe Canada should get some of California’s coyotes.

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  63. We’re all shocked — shocked — at the very notion of harm coming to wildlife. The local councilman is requesting the city look into a coyote management program that could provide protocols for trappimg and euthanasia. There are numerous daytime sightings now of coyotes taking cats and strolling along the streets like they own them — the coyote biologist told me in an interview (what I already knew) that this is not a good sign.

    Got an email from one of our wildlife advocates today saying (I’ve heard this over and over again) that we don’t have a
    Coyote problem, we have a ‘people’ problem (honestly, if you all would just have the decency to vacate the planet, life would be wonderful).

    Oy.

    But if Peter wants a few coyotes, I’m sure that can be arranged …

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  66. And my downfall isn’t so much sweets but salty snacks — chips, nachos, cheese …

    But M&Ms are an occasional lure as well. And those mini peanut-butter-chocolate cups I find at Sprouts (it’s a health food store, so they’ve gotta be healthy, right? And they’re so teeny-tiny, what harm could they really be?).

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  67. hmmm, just ate my chocolate quota for the day.
    the dark chocolate bark with almond pieces. so yummy
    I actually hand carried it here last July and then left it alone until the last month. but it is just what I need to get me through this term.

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