Summer Fun

Fearless

oh, this is not looking so good!

Ooh, collective sigh from the crowd at the pool, ouch!

I love these kids.  Now that our summer time visit is coming to an end, it wasn't so tiring after all.  I'm gonna miss these kids. 

I'm a Tired Nanoo

Agh, I'm getting old or something.  This summer-time Nanoo gig is killing me.  Or maybe it was the rehearsal dinner Friday night + 3 hour round trip drive, followed by the wedding Saturday + reception + 3 hour round trip drive,getting in bed at midnight both nights followed by the long lost cousins (yea:) ) stopping by Sunday that has me pooped?  Not that I'm whining mine you, it's just that - well when I'm tired I don't think well and according to my husband I gripe.  

But the wedding was beautiful and funny.  I didn't get any pictures because I forgot my camera but the flower girls, both three, stole the show.  I felt a little sorry for the bride and groom.  I had to tell myself to quit watching the girls and watch the wedding.  It was so . . . I hate to say bad but, I'll go there. . . that even the preacher was laughing.

Okay so picture this, two beautiful little girls, dressed in beautiful - long - dresses.  Walking down the aisle, putting out their flower petals - perfect, doing a great job.  You can see their concentration and the coaching from the parents.  Then, the two steps up.  Oops, forgot to teach that one.  Brought both of them down, plop.   Okay, that was cute in an embarrassing way, I felt sorry for them but they didn't seem to notice, oh to be three again.  

They made the fateful decision the leave the three little kids on stage ( the ring bearer 4 yrs old, the little sister 3 yrs old and the cousin - three almost four yrs old)  So the little boy didn't seem to need to be entertained but the little girls didn't know what to do with themselves.  They had those baskets and began playing with them, the youngest one put it on her head and then over her face and twirled around.  More like a searching back and forth, looking for how to get the basket off her face.  They other one sat on the floor and banged her head, the brother - sister combo fought over the basket.  The little girl won, it was hers, after all.  Finally, the two sister's of the bride aka matron's of honor, got the situation under control.  By then all the guest could do was try to stop re-living the site in our minds and stop laughing.  Sorry Kate and Casey, I hope you enjoy your video, hopefully there isn't too much of them but then, hopefully there is.   

Words seriously do not do justice to the scene, I'm thinking I may need to buy this wedding video. 

Oh well, the bride and groom are off to the Bahama's, life is good.

    

Anah

It's that time of the year for the summer ritual of having the grandkids come stay at nanoo's house.   

This one's too little and Mommy's not ready to let her go.  Ooh she's so cute.  I thought it only fitting that we preview the "faces of Anah"

Awe, so sweet.  

As a part of this prayer team one of the things that we do is a weekly devotional.  Today was my day.  So, since I have depleted my brain with one story, I'm going to borrow it and bring it here as well.  

{note: click on the link to listen to the song that inspired me}

 What do I know of You

Who spoke me into motion

Where have I even stood, But the shore along you ocean

Are you fire, are you fury

Are you sacred, are you beautiful

So what do I know

What do I know of holy

In thinking about God, I usually just become speechless.  To think on Him just makes me quiet.  I try to take in who He is and I feel overwhelmed, really.  Living here in west Texas gives us a great picture of just how little we are, I think.  When the big thunder head clouds build up and you see your house on the horizon and see just how little it is compared to what is going on in the sky and then to think how small we are inside that house.  And then I think about the babies and little children and our hearts and the things that we love and matter to us.  

So what do I know of Holy?

And then to think how big God is.  That He created.  His Spirit hovered over the deep -- Genesis 1:2; and then He spoke, "Let there be light." and it was so.  And He named it, Day. And that was the first day." 

I love that, too, that His words are simple.  That they mean what they say, they are not all 'flowered' up, Matthew 5:37 says, "Simply let your 'Yes' be 'yes' and your 'No' be 'no'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one."  

And to know that He is Holy.  We know this deep within ... we know this.  We know from old, that we once walked with God in paradise and that we fell from grace and we are forever trying to fill that void again.  I think that is why even now, as believers, pride wells up and to really admit that we are not ... that this God, this Ancient of Days, stills wants us.  Is jealous for us.  Is an all consuming fire.  Sent His Son as an atonement for our sins, our weakness, for us . . .

What do I know of Holy

What do I know of wounds that will heal my shame

And a God who gave life its name

What do I know of Holy 

of the One who the angels praise

All creation knows your name

On earth and heaven above

What do I know of this love 

And really to think that I could even begin to approach the Throne of Grace seems unbelievable.   I am quoting a song and so far you have read the chorus, but the singer is saying that she thought she had God all figured out.  And that she had learned the language of Christians.  You know all the phrases that fit comfortably on our tongue.  And there is comfort in the Word of God.  But do we just touch the surface, maybe become just a little too comfortable with who we think God is?  Words like majesty, awesome, mighty to save,  holy.  Do these words have a true depth of meaning? Or do we throw those words out casually, when really, a deep reverence for God is where we should be. Psalm 111:10 - "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding.  To him belongs eternal praise."

The Lord is an all consuming fire; Deuteronomy 4:24 - "For the LORD you God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."  I guess I should back up one verse and  talk about the context of God's jealousy; vs. 23 "Be careful not to forget the covenant of the LORD your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the LORD your God has forbidden."  That's a heavy hitting verse there.  But that would take me off into another direction and this is becoming lengthy, so let just touch on all consuming fire and jealousy.  

I have said before, that we're not playing here.  We are going about the business of God's kingdom, and our personal place in it and how we either show others the way or put stumbling blocks in their way.  While his promises are out of this world so are his warnings.  In Duet. 4:24 he is telling us that He is an all consuming fire, a jealous God for our worship, to not put anything in front of Him.  Does that not just cause you to step back a bit.  Let me quote an author, far better suited than I here.  This is written by a man named John W. Ritenbaugh, I do not know anything about him, who he is or anything like that but I subscribe to a daily verse thing and this is the one that came in today.  Funny how it plays right into 'Holy.'

"Jealousy and zeal are opposite sides of the same coin; both of them are driven by passion. One is positive, the other negative.  One is for, one is against.  Zeal is passionately for something or somebody, while jealousy is passionately against something or somebody.  Similarly, fire is hot, and it is both positive and negative.  It symbolizes both refining and purifying, on the one hand, and death and destruction on the other.

The pattern is in the way God depicts His feelings toward us.  As a consuming fire, He will either purify or destroy with His passion.  He is either for something with a great deal of ardor, or He is against something with a great deal of fury.  He is for those who are with him, and He is loyal to the nth degree to them.  But He is against sin and disloyalty with just as much heat as He is for those who love him and diligently seek Him.  His attitude is not cool in any way, shape, or form, but HOT.  He wants us to responds in a like manner.

In what way are we seeking God?  Diligently?  Earnestly?  Sincerely?  With warmth, ardor, and affection?  Is our seeking the ardent pursuit of one who wants to be around this personality and really desires to know Him because we are, after all, going to marry Him and spend eternity with Him?  Or is it a kind of take-or-leave-it, distant, academic coolness because we do not want to make a fool of ourselves or offend others with our zeal?  Think about it."

Everyday Heros

You know that commercial where the everyday hero is wearing a yellow cape and comes to the aid of the women on the side of the highway with a flat tire or the crew on the roof of some one's house fixing what I think of as hail damage (but that's just me)  wearing their yellow capes?  You know the one?

Well, I met one the other day.  His name is Brad and he was my hero that day.   Sorry for the bad picture quality. 

Living in the country we have all kinds of fun things, like rattle snakes and black widow spiders and flies!! (I really hate flies!  Don't ask me why, I get kind of crazy) and bees.  Lots of bees. The day they landed here, I was so amazed that I just stood in this window and watched in awe.  The shear number was amazing.  Thousands of them.  I didn't even think to grab my camera and get the before shot and I missed the moment the thousand flew out when he first sprayed the magic "not at my house in a can" spray. :)

They landed here, right below that plug and covered the cedar paneling that the plug is on and the one next to it AND they were stacked on top of each other.  Like a glob of bees, just crawling up my wall and finding a home inside my TV box.  Which by the way is to heavy and if you let it down and don't know that it will fall like a . . .  a . . . I don't know what, but it's heavy, reeeal heavy.  Okay?  You got that little side note picture?

I was mesmerized.  They were only here for 4 days.  Our hope really was that they wouldn't stay because the world needs bees and although you can't be sure if they are European bees or the killer variety until they are sent in to the . . . place that things like that go, (man I'm feeling dumb, I can't think of anything here, so just bare with me - I gotta tell my story) 

 We must be on a flight path or something because every year "traveling bees" come here and land on something.  This year it just happened to be the wooden box that covers a TV we had installed on the porch.  the idea here was to watch football games?  I don't know, could be fun.  Anyway,  my yellow caped hero Brad says that the group is looking for the perfect place to live.  My hope was that they would not find that home here and move on in the next couple of days.  But these traveling bees  liked our boxed-in TV and decided to take up residence.  

Check it out!  Isn't that amazing?  In a kind of scary way, maybe.

And also beautiful.

Look at how busy they were.  In just 4 days they built this much and there is honey in them too.

The honey smelled like a flower that didn't have a perfume smell.  Like . . . umm _ _ _ _ (fill in the blank here) I don't know what!

Psalm 19

The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech; 

night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth, 

their words to the ends of the world.

In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,

which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion,

like a champion rejoicing to run his course.

It rises at one end of the heavens

and make its circuit to the other;

nothing is hidden from its heat.

The law of the LORD is perfect,

reviving the soul.

The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,

making wise the simple.

The precepts of the LORD are right,

giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the LORD are radiant,

giving light to the eyes.

The fear of the LORD is pure,

enduring forever.

The ordinances of the LORD are sure

and altogether righteous,

They are more precious than gold, 

then much pure gold;

they are sweeter than honey,

than honey from the comb.

By them is your servant warned;

in keeping them there is great reward.

Who can discern his errors?

forgive my hidden faults.

Keep your servant also from willful sins;

may they not rule over me.

Then will I be blameless,

innocent of great transgression.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be pleasing in your sight,

O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

By wisdom the LORD laid the earth's foundations, 

by understanding he set the heavens in place;

by his knowledge the deeps were divided,

and the clouds let drop the dew. 

Proverbs 3:19 -20

It's the Prayer That Counts

Oh how I love to working walks to Emmaus.  I am working on the prayer team this time and I am creating a prayer calendar.  So, this is what I have been doing for the past few weeks.  It doesn't look like much but there are a lot of steps involved because I like to do things the hard way, that's why. 

So, here we go; the concept

The pretties {some of them}

The tools {most of them}

The fuel.

um, yummy, I think I get me one now.

The finished folder. 

Cuuute.  

Kind of a bright shabby chic thing, I think.

Anyway, it is the prayer that counts in a thing like this.  I have been so blessed to be pouring over scripture these past few weeks.  If I had to say what the one common thing is, it would be Christ.   I mean of course, but He is the common thread that has been woven though-out this thing.  His sacrifice for us and God's grace towards us.  He is the center of everything, who all things were created through and all things created for.  

Zephania 3:17

The LORD you God is with you, he is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you, he will rejoice over you with singing.