TTTTeach?

Do these look like scary people to get up in front of? These fun people are some of our current ministry school students earlier this school year. They are holding journals that they had decorated, a fun way to encourage journaling, I thought!

No, I am not exactly scared to teach this week even though my normal role has been administrative & casual weekly mornings on a stool beside Hubs chatting with them on what is going on in their lives & spiritual experiences. I love those impromptu talks that lead to wonderful discussions that often lead me into sharing stories of my life & what I have learned & am still learning in this amazing adventure. But, this week I volunteered to actually teach on taking our thoughts captive! It is a subject that I am passionate about & have lived for the last few years, so I know it works & I love to help others get in on it!

I have resisted being scheduled to really teach a pre-planned lesson in our school for quite a while due to the nervousness that really messes with me before the moment of introduction. The students are my friends & wonderful, loving & open people who already love me, so what is the problem?

I think I just found the problem & the answer this afternoon as I was looking over some notes I was going to use in my teaching time. I am a writer. My notes tend to become paragraphs. The paragraphs become pages full of solid words. Pages full of words do not lend themselves easily to sharing verbally, unless you plan to just read your stuff to the listeners. ( Which I have done often, but it feels sort of like cheating.)

But today I remembered getting a sneak peak at one of my favorite Guest Teacher's notes once. It really shocked me the first time I saw his teaching notes. They looked like colorful dialogue clouds with short 2 sentence blurbs in each one. Can you picture it? The pages were full of fluffy clouds with one liners in them. Some clouds were red, some blue, some green. I asked him about them & he said that the colors were his keys to certain themes; forgiveness, joy, freedom, etc. Each of the blurbs inside the clouds were memorable phrases that were enough in themselves but he could also expand on them if he felt the need & had the time.

I think this could work for me this week. I will try to get all my desired messages across without worrying about typing out every single word that needs to be said. If it is all written down I will tend to read instead of teach. And if I freak out & simply forget it all, the students would love to be dismissed early or we could all go out for coffee!

Simple Things I Love...

It is so easy to feel totally overwhelmed with the enormous need in Haiti right now. There is one simple & natural way that we bloggers can help a tiny bit. All you have to do is write a post about a few simple things that you enjoy, and the author of the blog Enchanted Oak will donate $2.00 towards the cause in Haiti. That's right! All you have to do is what you already do. BLOG!! Write a post about what simple things in life make you happy, and they will donate money on your behalf!

What could be easier?

Be sure to include a link to Enchanted Oak & leave them a comment letting them know you are on board!

Simple Things I love...

Glass Beach, where the broken glass & garbage from a nearby

dump has been turned into beautiful beach baubles.

The smell & fresh feeling of a

newly painted room.

Having a heater that works & makes

my home cozy & comfy.

Going to a job every day that I love.

That Hubs could not keep his secret Anniversary plan

secret for even one day!

That Writer Son is in love!

That I only run the dishwasher once a week

since Rocker Son moved out.

That I get to work with my best friends.

A washer & dryer that do

what I tell them to do.

The way both my sons hug me every

single time they see me!

The country road I drive to work on every day.

The scene is constantly changing!

Food in my fridge & clothing

in my closet.

SIX Word Saturday! (Sort of)

SIX WORD SATURDAY

Grey, rainy day, cleaning my home!

(If I can figure out how to turn this thing off!)

White Out

Today I re-connected with an old friend who asked if I was still "into" writing. I said yes, but this blog site would not be a great evidence of that. Especially THIS post! You've been warned.

We eat a big lunch out most days & then just snack at night. (yes, the empty nest is a wonderful thing!) Tonight I was preparing one of my favorites; apple slices, cheese, crackers & white wine. But the cracker box was empty (you'd think that would be over-with in an empty nest!), so I grabbed some chips & added them to the plate.

Is this not the most ridiculous meal you ever saw? White apples, white cheese, white chips & white wine! Not very appetizing looking but I am finding it quite yummy. And yes, I realize that the fatty chips are more than making up for the healthy fruit. If I refill the wine glass it won't matter.

An" Aha!" Moment!

This little series of photos makes me so happy on many different levels. The beautiful blond, Dena McClure, was our Guest Teacher in our ministry school last week. This is during a break between teaching sessions & one of our First Year students is chatting with Dena about her lesson. She had some questions & you can see the beautiful "Aha!" moment happen right before your eyes!

I so love my life!

Just Call Me Brenda-Barbie!

You all are being allowed in on my slow ascent into Photoshop stardom! Actually this amazing piece of inspiration you see was not done on PS (still need to watch the tutorials) but through other things on my marvelous Mac.

I realize it is a mess, I did not figure out how to erase the grey around Barbie's bubble head. But that is not why I am showing this to you & putting aside all my dignity for a moment.

I'm posting this because after spending a good amount of time working/playing around with putting Barbie's head on my shoulders, I laughed out loud at myself! Here's the funny....why in the world did I put her head on MY BODY? It's HER BODY that I want & crave. (That sentence could really be wrong if taken out of context.)

I mean really! My head & hair are not so bad, but oh man, I am totally exasperated with my bod & it's new found menopause lumps, bumps & jiggles!

The only drawback to having her body is that I'm not crazy about wearing only high heels all the time!

Who Me?

While attending a wedding last year, one of my best friends, Barb, would not let me take her picture. As I was about to click she turned her head away & this is the shot I caught! I love it!

In my last post I sent a question out to you that matched the ones in my head recently. The question was this: Can fooling around with photos be considered art?

Well of course it can & is....when someone else does it! But me? My silly little experiments? Is it possible that I have finally accidentally bumped into a way that I can create beauty?

This is what got me swirling around in this whirlpool of ideas & questions. I loved the back-of-her-head pic of my friend, so I played with it & for her birthday last week she opened up her gift bag to find this version.................

I enlarged it to about 5x7 & mounted it on white foam-board & added a wall- hanger on the back. She really loved it & immediately began to tell me that I should do more of it & pursue this as art, not just fooling around. I also gave her a colorful version of the same shot but similar to the one of me in the previous post.

I have Photoshop on my Mac but have not even ventured in there because it is very intimidating to me. I think maybe it is time to open that creative door & see what lurks inside!

Mac Fun!

I am asking myself some questions these last few days.

Nothing huge or deep or heavy, just fun ideas!

Can fooling around with photos be considered "art"?

Beauty Tips...

"For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For poise, walk with the knowledge

that you will never walk alone.

People, even more than things have to be

restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed;

never throw out anyone."

Audrey Hepburn

Hats Are Where it's At!

I have been sorting through my hundreds of photos this last week while loading them on my Mac & came across some cuties.

The straw hat shot is me many many moons ago (kind of Shirley Temple-ish huh?). The camo-hat photo is Rocker Son when he was a cute little munchkin. The similarity is fun don't you think? R.S. and I are very much alike in our coloring & looks. Writer Son looks just as much like Hubs.

The three-ladies-pic is me with my Mom & Aunt. I was & still am always reading! But did you notice my cool crocheted vest? Too bad my Mom is wearing the same one! I've always been an edgy dresser! :)

Six Word Saturday!

Six Word Saturday.........

Painting guest room for Mom's visit, yikes!

Mute Not!

I usually do not put songs on my blogs. I figure that people have too many different tastes & I would hate to make someone click away from mine because the music bugged them too much to even find the mute button. Reminds me of the times I have been shopping & just totally hated the music in the clothing shop & couldn't concentrate on my quest for the perfect pair of jeans!

BUT this song hit me in such a sweet & deep way when I heard it on one of my student's blogs that I sat there & let it play about 5 times through before going to bed last night! It expresses my heart so beautifully.

The singer is Julie Meyer & I know nothing about her or her church or beliefs but she is singing my song here. My history of church and ministry was largely based on what we could DO for others and for God. So I DID a lot of good for a lot of years and I enjoyed it most of the time because I love people. But this push to DO pushed into my time to just BE. To be with God. To be by myself. To be with my thoughts.

Until the day that my God let me know that He treasures my BEING way more than all my wonderful DOINGS. Who knew? So now, I am FREE from all the "shoulds" that ruled my life as a minster's wife and a Christian. This song is about worship. Worship that is not tied to any action at all. Just loving God. Just breaking open my "alabaster box", my heart & emotions, and pouring them liberally on His feet. That worship can look totally different to different people, and it must.