Hell in Texas?

Some people believe hell to be a place of eternal fire...

Texas may be hell on earth at this moment, if that is true.

I have always liked the phrase, "If I can't make it to heaven , I'll just go to the closest thing,  Texas!" because  I love living in Texas and being a Texan..it comes with a reputation of toughness, other states only long for.

But right now, Texas is burning.  

We have been fighting raging wild fires, all over the state, for almost two weeks now.  We have lost two firefighters, battling the blazes, and 150 homes in North Texas alone, according to the latest broadcasts. Fires are roaring around Austin, Dallas area and all over West Texas.It scares me, because of the high winds and heat; brave men and women sacrificing their lives to protect us and our homes.  We just can't seem to control it; we can't, because we are little little beings and we are not in control. 

Sooo... here’s the scene..

God is in heaven, listening to Job and his “buddies” sitting around

trying to figure things out that are way too big for them to understand...

Then Lisa says, “So, Where is the rain, to put out the fire??” AND

THE LORD SPEAKS:

JOB 38
Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
“Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man; I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?

READ for yourself all that God has to say here. It is very humbling, when you find yourself losing faith and questioning God.


http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job%2038&version=NIV

The fires scare me to death.. I have to keep remembering while I’m asking for rain, God’s got it…

TEEN AGERS

Because "teens"..AGE US"??   Is that where that name comes from??

Why is it ,the moment they hit 17, they are now old enough to "be their own boss", to old to be told how to speak to adults respectfully, or "not be required to check in about their whereabouts, or actions"... but still need to be fed and watered??

We love all of our dear children. They all have their own special talents and attributes...

 One, teaches me about faith in God, and is a wonderful spiritual example to me;
one is a perfect and beautiful mother;
one has a heart of gold and is brilliant,
and the last one makes me laugh constantly...

but I gotta tell ya, those teen years are challenging, to say the least... 

                                            I'm tired. 

 Homework fights, boy and girl friend fights, get a job and pull your own weight fights...Tattoo and piercing fights...the late night "I'm in jail" call...   whew!~  

                                          I'm tired!

I'm on my fourth and final round..   If I survive this one in two more years, my husband and I are going to Europe...  we have already saved $6.35 toward the trip, and we are super excited!!

I hope we make it!

Lovin' Life!

Laughing is a great thing!

It's contagious; makes everyone around the laughter feel happy as well!


I love to laugh and believe that laughter is, truly, a form of medicine.


The picture below is of my niece, Elizabeth and her little sister Alexandria. As you can see, Elizabeth is the laughing child...not so much for Alex..  I think this is my favorite picture in the world!
Alex is trying to crawl away, and 'Lizzie thinks it's funny, (and she is correct) to hold on , and just let the baby's feet move fast on the floor beneath her, and go nowhere...

LAUGH LAUGH LAUGH!!

This blog is to show you that you CAN, in fact, have fun at the expense of your little sister! Here is the picture to prove it!

So, go... have fun!... Make people laugh, and have a GREAT DAY!!!! 

Reverence Needed for Lent?

I was in a beautiful Catholic Church today. I have mentioned before, that I am Baptist, but I have a little bit of Catholic in me.


I attended a private, Catholic school when I was in the fourth grade. It seems I needed "special attention"...mmm.. ( see Taming Elizabeth)   All I remember about that year is the sweet nun that was my teacher, the crisp white shirt that I wore with my pleated, navy blue skirt...(every day) , and my brother having to attend as well, even though he wasn't as special as I was.

 I also remember sitting in the hall, after getting into trouble in class one day.. The priest walked by and said, "Why are you out here?" I shyly  and shamefully answered, "I was bad; I was talking."   "Humph. You should think  about that next time, young lady." Then he walked away.  I remember my friends didn't believe I spoke to the priest. "He doesn't talk to people in the halls, because they are bad.", they protested.


I have better thoughts when I think about my little sister joining the Catholic church, 10 years after marrying a wonderful man of that faith.  She studied and studied, and decided that is what she needed to do for her family. Her big, loving,  baptist family joined her at Easter Mass, and supported her decision.  She became ALL THE WAY CATHOLIC,  and flew to Rome, to the Vatican, for her first communion..  Awesome.

As I was looking at the statues, and ornate religious symbols all over the church today, I felt reverent, humbled and quite frankly, a whole lot more spiritual than I had in a while. Looking at the symbols of Christ on the cross, the day before Ash Wednesday, brought more seriousness to the event than normal. I was glad to be there. As I walked around the beautiful courtyard, I began to wonder where some of our reverence has gone.

We want to welcome people into our churches, invite them to "come as you are". "Jesus accepts you, just as you are!"; which is true, but have we given up reverence for God, with our acceptance of people?

It was quiet in the church. I could think about what I was was seeing, and the significance of each event.  I think, many times, in our churches, we are busy visiting and welcoming each other, we forget to visit with and welcome God.  Are we to allow clothing to be too reveling in church, because it is in fashion? or are we to come to worship our God, the Almighty, with reverence and modesty?


One thing I am very glad about; God is not too big to talk to me when I'm bad. For that, I'm very thankful.

As simple as boiling water…

Is that me or my task at hand?  

I like to think I have great cooking skills. I make pretty good food; good enough for my daughter in law to call, in frustration at times, asking…  “What do you do, to make XXX just right, like Chad likes it?”

Well, this morning, I cooked!

  I put water in the tea kettle to boil, turned the burner on and went to watch the morning news. Soon, I heard a strange popping sound, but, I, being as interested in world politics as I am, didn’t venture to investigate… then another very loud pop…  

 I thought I might just check in.

What I didn’t realize is, the burner I turned on, was under a lid that had been left on the stove, not under the tea kettle.  Oops.   Smoke was coming from under the lid, and the popping continued.  I moved the lid, turned on the fan above the stove, and frantically waved a towel in front of the fire buzzer, so not to wake my family at 5:30 AM with an annoying, very alarming, fire sound.

The crisis ended without too much harm, ( I did loose a lid), and I went into the bedroom, crawled in bed, next to my sleeping husband and said, “I almost burned the house down just by boiling water…”  That kind of woke him up... “What??   Did you do?”  I relayed the smoking story, and muttered.. “And I call myself a cook”.

My husband is the most enduring man on  the planet.  He has lived with me for 18 years… In his always supporting and comforting, even fatherly way, he said , “You’re  a great cook! The food tastes real good, when and if it makes it through~ ….you just need a chaperone in the kitchen"...

Truer words have never been uttered.    Bon Appétit!

Low Down Women

Think of the coolest woman you know, and ask her if she sings Alto.. (That's the lower womans' singing voice, for those of you non musical readers...)

I guarantee you, if she is really as cool as you think she is, she will. say...  "I sing Alto".

 Our youth choir filled the choir loft at church a few weeks ago. They looked and sounded fantastic! I noticed a difference in the girls/women, though; a distinct difference between the divided group of females. I could tell, just by looking, the altos from the sopranos.  

Alto chicks are just tougher by nature.  We look more tough, sound tough, and have tough attitudes.  No diss'en the higher girls, my best friend is a soprano.  That's just the way it is. Alto's are cooler.

Every choir director I have known has uttered these words,  "I need more alto!"  or "I can't hear the altos!"
It's not because we can't belt it out like our higher, more delicate counter parts.. it's just that we are too cool.  We are thinking, " Ya know, I could sing louder, but I just don't want to right now, besides, I'm too cool."  

It's the Attitude. We all have it; it's unavoidable. My last church choir alto section even had shirts printed that said..  " I have Alto-tude".  

The 'Tude may perpetuate itself in a very intelligent, quiet, soft spoken woman who doesn't really like you, but would never say that...  or in a mouthy woman, full of sarcasm and opinions.  You will never know the difference.  I tend to linger in the latter alto tude...

...The next time you watch a choir sing, see if you can find the Alto section...
We are too cool to miss!!

Speaking in Tongues

No, this will not be a blog about religious philosophies… although, if I did decide to open the “tongues” can of worms, I do have some opinions…

No, I am speaking of the language of Economics.

I am working on my MBA. Why? I haven’t a clue… Anyway I am taking a class called Managerial Economics and Globalization, where we are being taught how to forecast local and global business trends and how they will perform in the future.  (Apparently, having the crystal ball to see into the future is an important concept in the business world.  I just want to know what the weather will be like tomorrow, so I’ll know if I need a sweater.)

So, in Economics, we use the tongue of Economics, which is a cross between Algebra, Geometry, Calculus, and a little bit of First grade alphabet mixed in for good measure.

I’m a very verbal person. I have a degree in Business Management; with honors, might I add, so I can speak to you about business trends and understand the economic concepts; but our PhD, attorney, economy masochist professor, wants me to tell him what I know using the Economics tongue. That’s where the struggle begins.  I can communicate with everyone but him; He wants information in only one way, and I just don’t speak that language.

Ok. So here it is…     I (M-G)/D2=A/C2050

Translation: I must go now and divide my time in order to complete Assignment #2 to make an A in the course that is costing $2050 to complete.

Yeah. Good Luck with that, Lisa